Bauer

See also: bauer

Translingual

Etymology

Borrowed from German Bauer (“pawn”).

Noun

Bauer

1. (chess) Spoken by a player during a match with one or more visually impaired players to indicate a pawn in algebraic notation.

References

• FIDE Laws of Chess 2023

English

Etymology

• As a German and Jewish surname, from German Bauer (“farmer”). Compare Bower.
• Also as a German and Jewish surname, from the obsolete Middle High German noun (ge)būr (“neighbour”), from Old High German bur (“dwelling”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈbaʊ.əɹ/, /ˈbaʊəɹ/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -aʊ.ə(ɹ), -aʊə(ɹ)
• Homophones: Bower, bower (some etymologies)

Proper noun

Bauer

1. A surname from German.
   • 2025 September 22, Lauren Gardner, “Co-author of study linking Tylenol to autism says pain reliever still an option”, in POLITICO‎^[1]:

     University of Massachusetts epidemiologist Ann Bauer reviewed existing research in a paper published last month in the journal Environmental Health with Dr. Andrea Baccarelli, the dean of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City and the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.

Statistics

• According to the 2010 United States Census, Bauer is the 517^th most common surname in the United States, belonging to 65,004 individuals. Bauer is most common among White (95.1%) individuals.

Further reading

• Hanks, Patrick, editor (2003), “Bauer”, in Dictionary of American Family Names, volume 1, New York: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 115.

Anagrams

• Baure, Abure, Breau, Abreu

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈbau̯ɛr]

Proper noun

Bauer m anim (female equivalent Bauerová)

1. a male surname from German

Declension

Declension of Bauer (hard masculine animate)

	singular	plural
nominative	Bauer	Bauerové
genitive	Bauera	Bauerů
dative	Bauerovi	Bauerům
accusative	Bauera	Bauery
vocative	Bauere	Bauerové
locative	Bauerovi	Bauerech
instrumental	Bauerem	Bauery

Further reading

• “Bauer”, in Příjmení.cz (in Czech)
• Beneš, Josef (2020), Německá příjmení u Čechů [German Surnames of Czechs] (in Czech), Prague: Agentura Pankrác, →ISBN, page 304

French

Proper noun

Bauer ?

1. a surname from German

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbaʊ̯ɐ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aʊ̯ɐ

Etymology 1

From Middle High German būre, gebūre, from Old High German būr (“peasant”), gibūr, gibūro. All these forms ultimately descend from Proto-West Germanic *būr, itself from Proto-Germanic *būraz (“inhabitant, dweller”). Compare English boor.

Noun

Bauer m (weak or mixed, genitive (standard) Bauern or (informal) Bauers, plural Bauern, diminutive Bäuerchen n or Bäuerlein n, feminine Bäuerin or Bäurin)

1. farmer (male or of unspecified gender)

   Synonyms: Landwirt, Farmer

2. peasant (male or of unspecified gender)
3. (derogatory) boor, yokel, bumpkin (male or of unspecified gender)
4. (chess) pawn
5. (card games) jack, knave

   Synonyms: Bube m, Unter m

Usage notes

• Bauer is a weak noun in the standard language, but is part of a group of nouns which have a clear tendency to be strong colloquially, so one will often hear dem Bauer instead of dem Bauern.

Declension

Declension of Bauer [masculine, weak // mixed]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Bauer	die	Bauern
genitive	eines	des	Bauern1, Bauers2	der	Bauern
dative	einem	dem	Bauern1, Bauer2	den	Bauern
accusative	einen	den	Bauern1, Bauer2	die	Bauern

¹Standard.
²Colloquial.

Derived terms

• bäuerlich
• Bauernfrühstück n
• Bauernhof m
• Bauerschaft
• Bauersmann, -frau, -leute
• Bergbauer
• Biobauer, -bäuerin
• Doppelbauer
• Freibauer, -bäuerin
• kalter Bauer m
• Milchbauer, -bäuerin
• Reisbauer, -bäuerin
• Schweinebauer, -bäuerin

Descendants

• → English: bauer; bower
• → Polish: bauer
• → Serbo-Croatian: pȁor, па̏ор

Distribution of Bauers in Germany

Proper noun

Bauer m or f (proper noun, surname, masculine genitive Bauers or (with an article) Bauer, feminine genitive Bauer, plural Bauers or Bauer)

1. a surname originating as an occupation

Declension

Declension of Bauer [masculine // feminine, surname]

	singular						plural
	masculine			feminine
	indef.	def.	noun	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	(ein)	(der)	Bauer	(eine)	(die)	Bauer	(die)	Bauers, Bauer
genitive	(eines)	(des)	Bauers, Bauer1	(einer)	(der)	Bauer	(der)	Bauers, Bauer
dative	(einem)	(dem)	Bauer	(einer)	(der)	Bauer	(den)	Bauers, Bauer
accusative	(einen)	(den)	Bauer	(eine)	(die)	Bauer	(die)	Bauers, Bauer

¹With an article.

Related terms

• Bauerschmidt, Bauerfeind, Bauersachs
• Angerbauer, Beckenbauer, Bergbauer, Gebauer, Hofbauer, Holzbauer, Lettenbauer
• Neubauer, Rosenbauer, Schmidbauer, Seebauer, Steinbauer, Wackerbauer, Waldbauer

Etymology 2

From Middle High German būr, from Old High German būr (“dwelling”).

Noun

Bauer n or m (strong, genitive Bauers, plural Bauer)

1. (archaic or regional) birdcage

   Synonyms: Vogelkäfig m, Vogelbauer n or m

Declension

Declension of Bauer [neuter // masculine, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	das, der	Bauer	die	Bauer
genitive	eines	des	Bauers	der	Bauer
dative	einem	dem	Bauer	den	Bauern
accusative	ein, einen	das, den	Bauer	die	Bauer

Derived terms

• Vogelbauer m

Etymology 3

From bauen +‎ -er.

Noun

Bauer m (strong, genitive Bauers, plural Bauer, feminine Bauerin)

1. (almost exclusively in compounds) builder (male or of unspecified gender)

Declension

Declension of Bauer [masculine, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Bauer	die	Bauer
genitive	eines	des	Bauers	der	Bauer
dative	einem	dem	Bauer	den	Bauern
accusative	einen	den	Bauer	die	Bauer

Hyponyms

• Anlagenbauer
• Bootsbauer
• Geigenbauer
• Gitarrenbauer
• Harfenbauer
• Hausbauer
• Heizungsbauer
• Instrumentenbauer
• Klavierbauer
• Möbelbauer
• Orgelbauer
• Schiffsbauer
• Straßenbauer

Further reading

• “Bauer” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “Bauer (Bebauer, Erbauer)” in Duden online
• “Bauer, Landwirt, Schachspielfigur” in Duden online
• “Bauer (Vogelkäfig)” in Duden online

Luxembourgish

Etymology

From Middle High German būre, gebūre, from Old High German būr (“peasant”), gibūr, gibūro.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈbɑʊ̯ɐ]
• Rhymes: -ɑʊɐ

Noun

Bauer m (plural Baueren)

1. farmer
2. pawn (chess piece)

Synonyms

• Kaffert

Pennsylvania German

Etymology

From Middle High German būre, gebūre, from Old High German būr (“peasant”), gibūr, gibūro.

Noun

Bauer m (plural Bauer)

1. farmer

Slovak

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈbauer]

Proper noun

Bauer m pers (female equivalent Bauerová)

1. a male surname

Declension

Declension of Bauer
(pattern chlap)

	singular	plural 1	plural 2
nominative	Bauer	Bauerovia	Bauerovci
genitive	Bauera	Bauerov	Bauerovcov
dative	Bauerovi	Bauerom	Bauerovcom
accusative	Bauera	Bauerov	Bauerovcov
locative	Bauerovi	Baueroch	Bauerovcoch
instrumental	Bauerom	Bauermi	Bauerovcami

Further reading

• “Bauer”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2003–2025

Slovene

Etymology

Borrowed from German Bauer.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bauɛr/

Proper noun

Bauer m anim

1. a surname from German

Further reading

• “Bauer”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU (in Slovene), 2014–2025