burgeon

noun, verb — 4 senses

burgeon

noun

UK /ˈbɜː.d͡ʒən/ · CA, US /ˈbɝː.d͡ʒən/

Etymology

From Middle English burjon, burjoun (“shoot, bud”), from Anglo-Norman burjun, burgeon, burgon (compare Old French burjon (“a bud”)), from Old Frankish *burjō (“sprout, offshoot, descendant”), from Proto-Germanic *burjô (“sprout, descendant, offshoot”), from Proto-Germanic *burjaną (“to raise up”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer-. Compare Old High German burjan, burien, burren (“to push up, raise”), Old English byrian (“to come up, occur”), Old English byre (“child, son, descendant”), Albanian buron (“sprout, spring, gush out”). More at bear. Alternate etymology derives Old French burjon (“bud”) from Vulgar Latin *burrionem, accusative of *burrio, from Late Latin burra (“wool, fluff”) (presumably from the down covering certain buds).

1

Obsolete A bud, sprout, or shoot.

burgeon

verb

Etymology From Middle English burjounen, from Old French borjoner, bourjoner, burjuner.

1

To grow or expand.

  • Gradually, the town burgeoned into a thriving city.
2

To swell to the point of bursting.

3

Archaic Of plants, to bloom, bud.

Derived terms
burgeoning, reburgeon

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.

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