bust

bust · verb, noun, adjective¹

1. Middle English · inherited frombusten
2. English todaybust

From Middle English busten, a variant of bursten, bresten (“to burst”). Compare Low German basten, a variant of barsten (“to burst”). Cognate with burst and bost.

bust · noun²

1. Latinbūstum
2. Italianbusto
3. Frenchbuste
4. English todaybust

Borrowed from French buste, from Italian busto (“torso, upper body”), assumed to stem from Latin bustum (“funeral monument, tomb," originally "funeral pyre, place where corpses are burned”). Perhaps shortened from Latin ambustum, neuter of ambustus (“scorched”), past participle of ambūrō (“burn all over, scorch”), from ambi- (“around”) + ūrō (“to burn”). Compare Old Norse beysti.

Words from the same roots