Word origins

• balladineA female public dancer.
• balletomaneA ballet enthusiast.
• ballistiteA smokeless propellant made from nitrocellulose and nitroglycerine without a solvent, developed in the 1880s and still used, e.g., for artillery rockets like Grad.
• ballon d'essaiA policy put forward to test reactions; something designed to test the waters, an experimental measure.
• Ballon d'OrA prestigious award in football, presented annually by the magazine France Football, and given to the player deemed to be the best of the previous season.
• ballonetAny of several small balloons, inside a dirigible, that can be inflated or deflated to control buoyancy during flight.
• ballonnementThe ballooning or distending of a part of the body for operative or diagnostic purposes.
• ballotageIn France, a second ballot taken after an indecisive first ballot to decide between two or several candidates; a runoff election.
• ballotineA boned piece of meat or fish that has been rolled around a stuffing, tied into a bundle, and roasted or braised
• ballottementA method of diagnosing pregnancy, in which the uterus is pushed with a finger to feel whether a foetus moves away and returns again.
• bal musetteA French dance hall with an accordion player.
• bambocheA Haitian dance party.
• banalisationThe action of making something banal; trivialization.
• banalizationAmerican and Oxford British English standard spelling of banalisation.
• bancorA hypothetical supranational currency.
• bandeauxA bandeau, a single band (or a set of such bands) for a woman’s hair.
• bandeletA small band or fillet; any little band or flat moulding, compassing a column, like a ring.
• BankassA town in Mopti, Mali.
• banlieusardsuburban
• banneretA small banner.
• bannetonA type of basket used to provide structure for breads during proofing.
• baragouinA pidgin.
• barbaresquehaving a barbaric form or style
• barbastelleA relatively rare European bat, Barbastella barbastellus.
• barbetteA mound of earth or a platform in a fortification, on which guns are mounted to fire over the parapet.
• barbituric acidA heterocyclic compound derived from pyrimidine that is the basis of all barbiturate drugs.
• barbotineA soft clay used for moulding or decorating pottery
• barcaroleA Venetian folk song traditionally sung by gondoliers, often in ⁶⁄₈ or ¹²⁄₈ time with alternating strong and weak beats imitating a rowing motion.
• bardashA homosexual kept boy or young man; a catamite.
• barègeA type of gauzy fabric used for making dresses, originally made in Barèges.
• barègesA village and commune of Hautes-Pyrénées department, Occitania, France, known for its spa
• baregineA grey, gelatinous deposit in the sulphurous waters of the Barèges spa.
• BareillesA commune in Hautes-Pyrénées department, Occitania, France.
• BargeronA surname from French.
• BaribaultA surname from French.
• BaribeauA surname from French.
• bariolageA rapid alternation of two notes on two strings of a violin etc
• baroque pietyAn ostentatious form of popular Catholic piety, especially in Counter-Reformation Europe.
• barre chordA guitar chord played by pressing down multiple strings on the fretboard with the same finger.
• BarrelierA surname from French
• BarrèsA surname from French, usually applying to Maurice Barrès.
• barricadoA barricade.
• BarrilleauxA surname from French.
• BarthesianOf or relating to Roland Barthes (1915–1980), French literary theorist, philosopher, linguist, critic, and semiotician who influenced the development of schools of theory including structuralism, semiotics, social theory, anthropology and poststructuralism.
• baryeA unit of pressure under the CGS system; symbol Ba; equal to 1 dyne per square centimeter. 1 Ba = 0.1 Pa = 0.1 N/m2 = 1x10⁻⁶ bar.
• bascophoneSpeaking the Basque language.
• base courtThe secondary, inferior, outdoor or rear courtyard of a large house, palace or castle.
• basocheA guild of legal clerks in pre-revolutionary France.
• bas-reliefA low or mostly-flat sculpture which is carved into a wall, or is in the form of a tile mounted flat to a wall, rather than a fully three-dimensional, free-standing figure.
• Bas-RhinA department of Alsace, Grand Est, France. Capital: Strasbourg (INSEE code 67).
• Bas-Saint-LaurentAn administrative region on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River in Quebec, Canada.
• basse courtAn inner courtyard of a castle or other large building.
• Basses-AlpesFormer name of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence.
• basse-tailleA bas-relief enamelling technique used on metal
• basset houndA shortlegged breed of dog of the hound family.
• BassetteA surname from French.
• bastillionA fortress or fortified position.
• bastinadeA blow with a stick or cudgel.
• batardeauA cofferdam.
• BatavismA word or idiom of the Dutch language (that has been borrowed by another language).
• bathorseA horse which carries an officer's baggage during a campaign
• bathyscapheA self-propelled deep-sea diving submersible for exploring the ocean depths, consisting of a crew cabin similar to a bathysphere suspended below a float filled with a buoyant liquid such as petrol.
• batonnetA piece of vegetable cut into the shape of a small stick.
• Baton RougeThe capital city of the state of Louisiana in the United States and the parish seat of East Baton Rouge Parish.
• batoonA baton.
• battailantPrepared for battle; combatant; warlike.
• battalia pieA large game or fish pie made with small pieces of offal.
• battementA ballet move involving a beating action with an extended leg
• batterie de cuisineThe range of tools and utensils used in a professional kitchen.
• battuPerformed with a striking together of the legs.
• battueA form of hunting in which game is forced into the open by the beating of sticks on bushes, etc.
• battureA sea bed or a river bed that has been raised or elevated.
• BaudritA surname from French
• BaulineA town in Newfoundland, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.
• BauméA type of densimeter, developed by French pharmacist A. Baumé (1724-1804)
• BaupA surname from French.
• bavardagechatter, banter
• bavaroisA pudding similar to pastry cream but thickened with gelatin or isinglass instead of flour or cornstarch, and flavoured with liqueur.
• bavaroiseA drink of sweetened milk, eggs and tea, often with some sort of spirit.
• bavaroyA kind of cloak or surtout.
• bavettebeef flank steak
• bayadèreA Hindu dancing-girl.
• bay antlerThe second tine of a stag's antler.
• Bay L'ArgentA town in Newfoundland, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.
• bdellometerA cupping glass to which a scarificator and an exhausting syringe are attached.
• BéarnA geographic area and former province in the current Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, Occitania, France.
• BéarnaisAn inhabitant or descendant of the population of the Béarn region in the French Pyrenees
• beast with two backsTwo people united in sexual intercourse in the missionary position.
• beatifyTo make blissful.
• BeaudreauA surname from French.
• beau gesteA gracious gesture that is noble in form but often futile or meaningless in substance.
• beau idéalIdeal excellence, or an imaginary standard of perfection.
• beau joueurA gambler, especially if skilled.
• Beaumes-de-VeniseA village in Vaucluse department, France.
• beau mondeThe fashionable part of society.
• beau sabreurA gallant warrior; a handsome or dashing adventurer.
• beauseantThe black and white standard (battle flag) of the Knights Templar.
• BeauvalBeauval (a town in Somme department, Hauts-de-France, France).
• beaux-artsThe fine arts, especially in reference to the widely imitated conventional type of art and architecture advocated at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris.
• becardA South American flycatcher of the genus Pachyramphus.