Etymology

bombase

B3O1M3B3A1S1E1

Today it means: Cotton wool made from raw cotton, typically used as padding in clothing or as a stopper. Full definition →

Old French bombace ← Late Latin bombax ← Ancient Greek βόμβυξ
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The story

  1. Middle Persian · derived frompmbk'“cotton”
  2. Ancient Greek · derived fromβόμβυξ“silkworm”
  3. Late Latin · derived frombombax“cotton”
  4. Old French · derived frombombace“cotton, cotton wadding”
  5. English todaybombase

From Old French bombace (“cotton, cotton wadding”), from Late Latin bombax (“cotton”), a variant of bombyx (“silkworm”), from Ancient Greek βόμβυξ (bómbux, “silkworm”), possibly related to Middle Persian pmbk' (“cotton”), from a Proto-Indo-European.

Words from the same roots

Old Frenchbombace all →

bombast

Late Latinbombax all →

bombast

Ancient Greekβόμβυξ all →

bombastbombyx

Middle Persianpmbk' all →

bombast

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.