different between bumblebee vs bourdon

English

Alternative forms

• bumble bee, bumble-bee

Etymology

1520s from bumble +? bee, replacing Middle English humbul-be. Merged with Middle English bombeln (“to boom, buzz”), in the late 14th century.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?b?mbl?bi/

Noun

bumblebee (plural bumblebees)

1. Any of several species of large bee in the genus Bombus

   Synonyms: dumbledore, (obsolete) humblebee

Related terms

Translations

References

• bumblebee on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Bombus on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Bombus on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French bourdon.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?b??d?n/

Noun

bourdon (plural bourdons)

1. (music, archaic) The burden or bass of a melody.
   • 1985, Anthony Burgess, Kingdom of the Wicked:

     The earth tremors resumed and made a bourdon to the loud psalms that they sang, interspersed with the odd ode of Horace recited by Silas.

2. The drone pipe of a bagpipe.
3. The lowest-pitched stop of an organ.
   • 1890, Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Vintage 2007, p. 5:

     The dim roar of London was like the bourdon note of a distant organ.

4. The lowest-pitched bell of a carillon.
5. A large, low-pitched bell not part of a diatonically tuned ring of bells.
6. A bumblebee, genus Bombus.
7. A pilgrim's staff.

Translations

Anagrams

• obround

French

Etymology

From Middle French bourdon (“honeybee, bumblebee”), from Old French bordon (“bumblebee, drone, beetle, insect”), from Medieval Latin burdo (c. C.E. 1000), first recorded in the Homilies of King Ælfric, glossed by Old English dora (“bumblebee”). Of uncertain origin. Possibly from Frankish *bordo, *burdo (“beetle, insect”), from Proto-Germanic *buzdô (“beetle, grub", literally, "swelling”), from *b?s- (“to erupt, burst, flow rapidly”), from Proto-Indo-European *b??s- (“to move quickly”), related to Old English budda (“beetle”), Middle Low German buddech (“thick, swollen”), Low German budde (“louse, grub”). See bug.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bu?.d??/
• Rhymes: -??

Noun

bourdon m (plural bourdons)

1. bumblebee (species of bee)
2. (music) drone
3. (figuratively, colloquial) blues (feeling of sadness)

   Synonym: cafard

Derived terms

• faux-bourdon
• bourdonner
• bourdonnement

Further reading

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

Louisiana Creole French

Etymology

From French bourdon (“bee”).

Noun

bourdon

1. bee, wasp

References

• Alcée Fortier, Louisiana Folktales

Norman

Etymology

From Old French bordon (“bumblebee, drone, beetle, insect”), from Medieval Latin burdo.

Noun

bourdon m (plural bourdons)

1. (Jersey) bumblebee

Synonyms

• bourde

Derived terms