different between berth vs billet

English

Alternative forms

• birth, byrth (obsolete)

Etymology

Origin obscure. Possibly from Middle English *berth (“bearing, carriage”), equivalent to bear +? -th. This would make it a doublet of birth.

Alternatively, from an alteration of Middle English beard, bærde (“bearing, conduct”), itself of obscure formation. Compare Old English ?eb?ru (“bearing, conduct, behaviour”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /b???/
• (US) enPR: bûrth, IPA^(key): /b??/
• Homophone: birth
• Rhymes: -??(?)?

Noun

berth (plural berths)

1. A fixed bunk for sleeping (in caravans, trains, etc).
2. Room for maneuvering or safety. (Often used in the phrase a wide berth.)
3. A space for a ship to moor or a vehicle to park.
4. (nautical) A room in which a number of the officers or ship's company mess and reside.
5. A job or position, especially on a ship.
6. (sports) Position or seed in a tournament bracket.
7. (sports) position on the field of play

Translations

Verb

berth (third-person singular simple present berths, present participle berthing, simple past and past participle berthed)

1. (transitive) to bring (a ship or vehicle) into its berth
2. (transitive) to assign a berth (bunk or position) to

Translations

Welsh

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /b?r?/

Etymology 1

From Proto-Brythonic *ber?, from Proto-Celtic *berxtos.

Adjective

berth (feminine singular berth, plural berthion, equative berthed, comparative berthach, superlative berthaf)

1. (obsolete) fair, fine, beautiful

Derived terms

• anferth (“colossal, gargantuan”)
• prydferth (“beautiful, handsome”)

Mutation

Etymology 2

Noun

berth

1. Soft mutation of perth (“hedge”).

Mutation

English

Pronunciation

• (UK, General American) IPA^(key): /?b?l?t/
• Rhymes: -?l?t

Etymology 1

From Middle English bylet, from Anglo-Norman billette (“list, schedule”), from bille +? -ette, from Latin bulla (“document”).

Noun

billet (plural billets)

1. A short informal letter.
2. A written order to quarter soldiers.

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle French billette (“schedule”), from bullette, diminutive form of bulle (“document”), from Medieval Latin bulla, hence cognate with etymology 1 above.

Noun

billet (plural billets)

1. A place where a soldier is assigned to lodge.
   • 1997, Chris Horrocks, Introducing Foucault, page 9 (Totem Books, Icon Books; ?ISBN

     17 June 1940: Prime Minister Pétain requests armistice. Germans use the Foucaults’ holiday home as officers’ billet. Foucault steals firewood for school from collaborationist militia. Foucault does well at school, but messes up his summer exams in 1940.

2. An allocated space or berth in a boat or ship.
3. (figuratively) Berth; position.
   • 1897, Pall Mall Magazine

     His shafts of satire fly straight to their billet, and there they rankle.

Verb

billet (third-person singular simple present billets, present participle billeting or billetting, simple past and past participle billeted or billetted)

1. (transitive, of a householder etc.) To lodge soldiers, or guests, usually by order.

   • Billeted in so antiquated a mansion.
2. (intransitive, of a soldier) To lodge, or be quartered, in a private house.
3. (transitive) To direct, by a ticket or note, where to lodge.

Translations

Etymology 3

From Middle English billet, bylet, belet, billette, from Old French billette, from bille (“log, tree trunk”), from Vulgar Latin *bilia, probably of Gaulish origin (compare Old Irish bile (“tree”)).

Noun

billet (plural billets)

1. (metallurgy) A semi-finished length of metal.
2. A short piece of wood, especially one used as firewood.
3. A short cutting of sugar cane produced by a harvester or used for planting.
4. (heraldry) A rectangle used as a charge on an escutcheon.
5. (architecture) An ornament in Norman work, resembling a billet of wood, either square or round.
6. (saddlery) A strap that enters a buckle.
7. A loop that receives the end of a buckled strap.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Knight to this entry?)

Translations

Etymology 4

Noun

billet (plural billets)

1. Alternative form of billard (“coalfish”)

Anagrams

• LIBlet, Litbel

Danish

Etymology

From French billet.

Noun

billet c (singular definite billetten, plural indefinite billetter)

1. ticket (admission to entertainment, pass for transportation)

Inflection

Further reading

• “billet” in Den Danske Ordbog

French

Etymology

From Old French billette, from Latin bulla. See French boulette.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bi.j?/

Noun

billet m (plural billets)

1. ticket
2. note, a brief message
3. (short for billet de banque) banknote

Derived terms

• distributeur de billets

Related terms

• billet de banque (bank note)
• billet-doux
• billette
• billetterie
• billetiste

Descendants

Further reading

• “billet” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).