bureau

See also Bureau

English

Etymology

French bureau ‘desk’, earlier ‘coarse cloth (as desk cover), baize’, from Old French burel ‘woolen cloth’, diminutive of *bure (cf. Middle French bure ‘coarse woolen cloth’, French bourre ‘hair, fluff’), from Late Latin burra ‘wool, fluff, shaggy cloth, coarse fabric’; akin to Ancient Greek berberion ‘shabby garment’.

Pronunciation

• enPR: , byo͝orʹō, IPA: /ˈbjʊɹ.əʊ/, SAMPA: /"bjUr\.@U/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʊərəʊ

Noun

bureau (plural bureaux or bureaus)

1. office
2. desk, usually with a cover and compartments for storing papers etc. located above the level of the writing surface rather than underneath
3. (US) chest of drawers for clothes

Related terms

• bureaucracy
• bureaucrat
• bureaucratic
• burel
• Federal Bureau of Investigation

Translations

office

Breton: burev Bulgarian: кантора (bg) f., бюро (bg) n. Crimean Tatar: büro Dutch: agentschap (nl) n., kantoor (nl) n., bureau (nl) n. Finnish: toimisto (fi), virasto (fi) French: agence (fr) f., bureau (fr) m. German: Büro (de) n.

Hebrew: לשכה (lishka) f. Italian: ufficio (it) m. Maltese: uffiċċju (mt) m. Portuguese: Escritório Russian: бюро (ru) (bjuró) n., контора (ru) (kontóra) f. Spanish: oficina (es) f. Swedish: byrå (sv) c.

desk

Armenian: գրասեղան (hy) (graseġan) Bulgarian: писалище (bg) n., бюро (bg) n. Dutch: bureau n., bureel n. Finnish: työpöytä (fi), kirjoituspöytä (fi) French: secrétaire (fr) m., bureau (fr) m. German: Sekretär (de) m., Schreibtisch (de) m., Büro (de) n.

Hebrew: שולחן (he) Hungarian: szekreter (hu) Italian: scrivania (it) f., scrittoio (it) m. Maltese: skrivanija (mt) Portuguese: mesa (pt), escrivaninha (pt) Russian: бюро (bjuró) n., (colloquial) конторка (kontórka) f. Spanish: escritorio (es) m.

chest of drawers for clothes

Dutch: kledingkast f. m., kast f. m. Finnish: lipasto (fi) German: Kommode (de) f. Italian: cassettone (it), comò (it) Maltese: burò (mt)

Portuguese: cômoda (pt) f., cômodas (pt) f. pl. Russian: комод (ru) (komód) m. Spanish: comoda (es) f. Swedish: byrå (sv) c.

External links

• bureau in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• bureau in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

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Dutch

Pronunciation

• audio

  (file)

Noun

bureau n. (plural bureaus, diminutive bureautje)

1. desk
2. office

Synonyms

• bureel

Derived terms

• reclamebureau (2)
• bureaula (1)

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French

Pronunciation

• audio

  (file)

Noun

bureau m. (plural bureaux)

1. desk
2. office