bouk

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*bʰōw-“to blow, swell”
2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*būkaz“belly, body”
3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*būk
4. Old English · inherited frombūc“belly, stomach, pitcher”
5. Middle English · inherited frombouk
6. English todaybouk

From Middle English bouk, from Old English būc (“belly, stomach, pitcher”), from Proto-West Germanic *būk, from Proto-Germanic *būkaz (“belly, body”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰōw- (“to blow, swell”). Doublet of bucket. Cognate with Scots bouk, bowk, buik (“body, carcass”), Dutch buik (“belly”), German Bauch (“belly”), Swedish buk (“belly, abdomen”), Norwegian Bokmål buk (“belly”), Icelandic búkur (“torso”). For the phonetic development, compare puck, suck.

Words from the same roots