burgeon

WOTD - 24 February 2008    

English

Pronunciation

• (RP) IPA: /ˈbɜː.d​͡ʒən/, SAMPA: /"b3:.dZ@n/
• (US) IPA: /ˈbɝː.d​͡ʒən/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(r)dʒən

Etymology 1

From Middle English burjon, burioun "shoot, bud" from Anglo-Norman burjun, burgeon, burgon (compare Old French burjon "a bud"), of Germanic origin, from Frankish *burjo ("sprout, offshoot, descendant"), from Proto-Germanic *burjô (“sprout, descendant, offshoot”), from Proto-Germanic *beranan (“to carry, bear”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer-, *bʰrē- (“to bear”). Akin to Old High German burjan (“to push up, raise”), Old English byrian (“to come up, occur”), Old English byre (“child, son, descendant”). More at bear.

Noun

burgeon (plural burgeons)

1. (obsolete) bud, sprout, shoot

Translations

bud, sprout, shoot

Swedish: knopp (sv) c.

Etymology 2

From Middle English, from Old French borjoner, burjoner (“to bud, to sprout”), from burjon (“a bud”), of uncertain origin, perhaps from Germanic.

Verb

burgeon (third-person singular simple present burgeons, present participle burgeoning, simple past and past participle burgeoned)

1. (intransitive) To grow or expand.

   Gradually, the town burgeoned into a thriving city.

2. (intransitive) To swell to the point of bursting.
3. (intransitive, archaic) Of plants, to bloom, bud.

Synonyms

• (grow or expand): blossom, expand, grow, sprout
• (bloom, bud): blossom, bud, green, sprout

Translations

to grow or expand

Finnish: kasvaa (fi) Polish: rozkwitać Portuguese: desabrochar (pt)

Spanish: medrar (es) Swedish: spira (sv)

to swell to the point of bursting

Polish: pęcznieć

of plants, to bloom, bud

French: fleurir (fr) Polish: pączkować, rozkwitać

Spanish: florecer (es) Swedish: knoppas, spira