bourgmestre

French

Alternative forms

• bourguemaître (archaic)

Etymology

Inherited from Old French bourgemaistre (with various variants), from Middle Dutch burchmeester and Middle High German burgemeister.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /buʁ.mɛstʁ/, /buʁɡ.mɛstʁ/

• Audio (Paris):

  (file)

Noun

bourgmestre m or f by sense (plural bourgmestres)

1. (Belgium, Luxembourg) mayor

   Synonym: (France, Switzerland, Canada) maire

Usage notes

• Also used, often even in France, when referring to countries that use a cognate term (e.g. Germany, Poland, Sweden).

See also

• mayeur

Further reading

• “bourgmestre”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.