bower

bower · noun, verb¹

1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*būrą“room, abode”
2. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*būr
3. Old English · inherited frombūr
4. Middle English · inherited frombour
5. English todaybower

From Middle English bour, from Old English būr, from Proto-West Germanic *būr, from Proto-Germanic *būrą (“room, abode”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Búur (“storage room, utility room; cage”), German Bauer (“birdcage”), Old Norse búr (“cage”) (Danish bur, Norwegian Bokmål bur, Swedish bur).

bower · noun²

1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*būraz“dweller”
2. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*būr
3. Middle Dutch · derived frombouwer“farmer, builder, peasant”
4. Old English · inherited frombūr
5. Middle English · inherited fromboueer
6. English todaybower

From Middle English boueer, from Old English būr, ġebūr (“freeholder of the lowest class, peasant, farmer”) and Middle Dutch bouwer (“farmer, builder, peasant”); both from Proto-West Germanic *būr, from Proto-Germanic *būraz (“dweller”), from or related to *būaną (“to dwell”). Cognates Cognate with North Frisian Buur, böre, büür (“farmer”), Alemannic German pour, pur, Puur, pür (“farmer”), Dutch boer, bouwer (“farmer”), buur (“neighbour”), German and Luxembourgish Bauer (“farmer”), Low German Buer, Buur (“farmer”), Mòcheno pauer (“farmer”), Vilamovian pauer, pojer, poüer (“farmer”), Yiddish פּויער (poyer, “farmer”); also Albanian burr, burrë (“man; husband; brave male; lord”). Doublet of bauer, Boer, and boor. More at neighbour.

bower · noun³

1. German · borrowed fromBauer
2. English todaybower

From German Bauer. A doublet of etymology 2 and of the German-origin surname Bauer.

bower · noun⁴

From the bow of a ship + -er.

bower · noun⁵

From bow (verb) + -er.

bower · noun⁶

From bow (noun) + -er.

bower · noun⁷

From bough + -er, compare brancher.

Words from the same roots