different between bureau vs province

English

Etymology

Borrowed 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 ????????? (berbérion, “shabby garment”). Doublet of burel and borrel, taken from Old French.

Pronunciation

• enPR: byo?or??, IPA^(key): /?bj??.??/
• enPR: byo?or??, IPA^(key): /?bj??.?/
• (US) enPR: by?r??, by?r??, IPA^(key): /?bj??.o?/, /?bj??.?/
• (New England)
• Rhymes: -?????, Rhymes: -????
• Rhymes: -?????
• Rhymes: -??

Noun

bureau (plural bureaus or bureaux)

1. An administrative unit of government; office.
   • 2018, VOA Learning English > China's Melting Glacier Brings Visitors, Adds to Climate Concerns

     Ashley Johnson is an energy, trade and economics expert at the National Bureau of Asian Research, based in the United States.

2. An organization or office for collecting or providing information or news.

3. An office (room where clerical or professional duties are performed).
   • 2015, Victoria Delderfield, Secret Mother:

     There was an eerie silence in the dorm [... in] the factory. [...] The lamp glowed in his bureau, warm and reassuring and, through the window, I could see his papers strewn across the desk. [...] I called his name again. A movement from his bureau. [...] I banged on his door until it opened a crack[. ...] He pushed me out onto the staircase. "Get out," he screamed. The door to his bureau slammed in my face.
4. (chiefly Britain) 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.

Derived terms

• bureau de change
• QSL bureau

Related terms

• bureaucracy
• bureaucrat
• bureaucratic
• bureaugamy
• burel

Translations

Further reading

• bureau in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• bureau in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Dutch

Alternative forms

• buro (superseded)

Etymology

Borrowed from French bureau, from Middle French burel, from Old French burel.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /by?ro?/
• Hyphenation: bu?reau
• Rhymes: -o?

Noun

bureau n (plural bureaus, diminutive bureautje n)

1. desk [from 18th c.]
2. office [from late 18th c.]

Synonyms

• (desk): schrijftafel
• (office): bureel, kantoor

Derived terms

• bureaula
• bureaulamp
• burotica
• consultatiebureau
• politiebureau
• reclamebureau

Related terms

• bureel

Descendants

• Afrikaans: buro
• ? Indonesian: biro

French

Etymology

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 ????????? (berbérion, “shabby garment”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /by.?o/

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)

Derived terms

Related terms

• bourre
• bourgeon

Descendants

Further reading

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

English

Etymology

From Middle English provynce, from Anglo-Norman province, Middle French province, from Latin pr?vincia (“territory brought under Roman domination; official duty, office, charge, province”), from Proto-Indo-European *pr?w- (“right judge, master”). Cognate with Gothic ???????????????????????? (frauja, “lord, master”), Old English fr?a (“ruler, lord, king, master”). See also frow.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?p??v?ns/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?p??v?ns/

Noun

province (plural provinces)

1. A region of the earth or of a continent; a district or country. [from 14th c.]
   • 1859, Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species:

     We should find, as we do find, some groups of beings greatly, and some only slightly modified […] in the different great geographical provinces of the world.

2. An administrative subdivision of certain countries, including Canada and China. [from 14th c.]
   • 2016, The Guardian, 4 May:

     All of Fort McMurray, with the exception of Parson’s Creek, was under a mandatory evacuation order on Tuesday, said Robin Smith, press secretary for the regional municipality of Wood Buffalo in the Canadian province [of Alberta].

3. (Roman history) An area outside Italy which is administered by a Roman governor. [from 14th c.]
   • 2008, Mark Brown, The Guardian, 28 November:

     He reminded his audience of events in 88BC, when the same Mithridates invaded the Roman province of Asia, on the western coast of Turkey.

4. (Christianity) An area under the jurisdiction of an archbishop, typically comprising a number of adjacent dioceses. [from 14th c.]
   • 1838, The Churchman, p. 44:

     In 1309, neither the Archbishop of Canterbury nor his suffragans would attend in Parliament while the Archbishop of York had the cross borne erect before him in the province of Canterbury.

5. (Roman Catholicism) An area under the jurisdiction of a provincial within a monastic order.
6. (in the plural, chiefly with definite article) The parts of a country outside its capital city. [from 17th c.]
   • 1937, The Guardian, 1 April:

     To-day the first part of the new Indian Constitution comes into force with the granting of a large measure of autonomy to the provinces.

7. An area of activity, responsibility or knowledge; the proper concern of a particular person or concept. [from 17th c.]
   • 1984, Dorothee Sölle, The Strength of the Weak: Toward a Christian Feminist Identity, page 37:

     Just as money is the province of the economy and truth the province of science and scholarship, so love is the province of the family (Niklas Luhmann).

Usage notes

Province is the generic English term for such primary divisions of a country, but is not used where another official term has widespread use, such as France's regions and departments, Switzerland's cantons, or America's and Australia's states. Territories and colonies are sometimes distinguished from provinces as unorganized areas of low or foreign population, which are not considered an integral part of the country. Sovereign subdivisions of a larger whole, such as the principalities of the former Holy Roman Empire or the countries with the European Union, are likewise not usually described as provinces.

Synonyms

• (principal subdivision of a state): circuit, tao, dao, route, lu (imperial and early Republican China)

Coordinate terms

• canton (Swiss); county (British); department (French); oblast (Russian); state (USA, Australian); voivodeship (Poland)
• shire
• territory

Derived terms

• provincehood
• Provincetown
• provincewide

Related terms

• provincial

Descendants

• Tok Pisin: provins

Translations

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin pr?vincia. Doublet of Provence.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p??.v??s/

Noun

province f (plural provinces)

1. province
2. the countryside (of France), the French regions (other than the Parisian region), provincial France

Related terms

• provincial

Further reading

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

Italian

Noun

province f pl

1. plural of provincia

Synonyms

• provincie

Middle English

Noun

province

1. Alternative form of provynce

Middle French

Noun

province f (plural provinces)

1. province (subdivision of a territory)

Descendants

• French: province
• ? Middle English: provynce, provynse, province, provyns
  • English: province
    • Tok Pisin: provins
  • Scots: province

References

• province on Dictionnaire du Moyen Français (1330–1500) (in French)

Old French

Alternative forms

• provinz, pruvince

Noun

province f (oblique plural provinces, nominative singular province, nominative plural provinces)

1. province (subdivision of a territory)

Descendants

• Middle French: province
  • French: province
  • ? Middle English: provynce, provynse, province, provyns
    • English: province
      • Tok Pisin: provins
    • Scots: province
• Norman: provînche, provinche

References

• province on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub
• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (province, supplement)

Walloon

Noun

province f (plural provinces)

1. province