bureau

English Online Dictionary. What means bureau‎? What does bureau mean?

English

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French bureau, earlier "coarse cloth (as desk cover), baize", from Old French burel (“woolen cloth”), diminutive of *bure (compare Middle French bure (“coarse woolen cloth”), French bourre (“hair, fluff”)), from Late Latin burra (“wool, fluff, shaggy cloth, coarse fabric”); akin to Ancient Greek βερβέριον (berbérion, “shabby garment”). Doublet of burel and borrel, taken from Old French.

Pronunciation

• enPR: byo͝orʹō, IPA^(key): /ˈbjʊ.ɹəʊ/
• enPR: byo͝orʹə, IPA^(key): /ˈbjʊ.ɹə/
• (US) enPR: byərʹō, byərʹə, IPA^(key): /ˈbjʊ.ɹoʊ/, /ˈbjʊ.ɹə/
• Rhymes: -ʊəɹəʊ, Rhymes: -ʊəɹə
• Rhymes: -ɪəɹəʊ
• Rhymes: -əʊ

Noun

bureau (plural bureaus or bureaux)

1. An administrative unit of government; office.
2. An organization or office for collecting or providing information or news.

3. An office (room where clerical or professional duties are performed).
4. (chiefly British) A desk, usually with a cover and compartments that are located above the level of the writing surface rather than underneath, and often used for storing papers.
5. (US) A chest of drawers for clothes.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Further reading

• “bureau”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “bureau”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Danish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French bureau

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /byˈʁo/, [pyˈʁ̞o̝]

Noun

bureau n (singular definite bureauet, plural indefinite bureauer)

1. bureau

Declension

Further reading

• “bureau” in Den Danske Ordbog

Dutch

Alternative forms

• (superseded) buro

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French bureau, from Middle French burel, from Old French burel.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /byˈroː/
• Hyphenation: bu‧reau
• Rhymes: -oː

Noun

bureau n (plural bureaus, diminutive bureautje n)

1. (furniture) desk [from 18th c.]

   Synonym: schrijftafel

2. (building) office, office building [from late 18th c.] (especially office buildings for writing and publishing journalism and literature, or the police station as a building)

   Synonyms: bureel, kantoor

3. (non-commercial) agency (government organisation, such as a police station: "politiebureau"; a scientific or humanities research institute: "onderzoeksbureau"; political party think tank: "wetenschappelijk bureau")
4. (commercial) company (in design, engineering, journalism, communications, marketing, market/opinion research), agency (doing business for another, such as an advertising agency: "reclamebureau"; a news agency: "persbureau")

Derived terms

Related terms

Descendants

• Afrikaans: buro
• → Caribbean Hindustani: buro
• → Indonesian: biro
• → Papiamentu: biroshi, birosji (from the diminutive)
• → Sranan Tongo: biro

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French burel, diminutive of *bure (compare Middle French bure (“coarse woolen cloth”), French bourre (“hair, fluff”)), from Late Latin burra (“wool, fluff, shaggy cloth, coarse fabric”); akin to Ancient Greek βερβέριον (berbérion, “shabby garment”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /by.ʁo/
• Rhymes: -o
• Hyphenation: bu‧reau

Noun

bureau m (plural bureaux)

1. desk
2. office (room)
3. ticket office
4. the staff of an office
5. office; an administrative unit
6. (obsolete) frieze (coarse woolen cloth)
7. (computing, graphical user interface) desktop (on-screen background)

Derived terms

Related terms

• bourre
• bourgeon

Descendants

Further reading

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