Etymology

boll

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Today it means: The rounded seed-bearing capsule of a cotton or flax plant. Full definition →

Middle English bolle ← Middle Dutch bolle ← Frankish *bollo
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boll · noun, verb1

  1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*bullô“round object; bowl”
  2. Frankish · derived from*bollo
  3. Middle Dutch · borrowed frombolle“round object”
  4. Middle English · inherited frombolle“pod; shell”
  5. English todayboll

From Middle English bolle (“pod; shell”) and Middle Dutch bolle (“round object”), from Frankish *bollo, all ultimately from Proto-Germanic *bullô (“round object; bowl”). More at bowl.

Boll · proper noun2

  1. German · borrowed fromBöll
  2. Danish · borrowed fromBøll
  3. English todayBoll

* As a Danish and German surname, from Danish Bøll, German Böll. * Also as a German surname, from the personal name Baldo (see Bold). Compare Boell. * As an English surname, variant of Bull. * Also as an English surname, from the noun bowl. Compare Bowler. * As a Scottish surname, variant of Boyle.

Words from the same roots

Middle Englishbolle all →

bowl

DanishBøll all →

Boell

GermanBöll all →

Boell

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.