English
bout
Bout comes from Proto-Indo-European *bʰewgʰ- ‘to bend’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰewgʰ-‘to bend’root as named · steps between not traced
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bout
- Englishearliest quotation 1809same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰewgʰ-‘to bend’root as named · steps between not traced
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bout
- Englishearliest quotation 1809same form
Earliest quotation: 1809, Esq.”: “The outside bout of each land is ploughed two…”
Formed from bow + -t
Proto-Indo-European *bʰewgʰ- ‘to bend’
Proto-Indo-European *bʰugʰ-
Proto-Germanic *bugô ‘bow (weapon)’
Old English boga ‘bow (weapon)’
Middle English bowe
English bow
The story
From Middle English bout, bowt, bught (whence also modern English bought (‘bend, curve’)), probably from Old English *buht (‘bend, turn’), an unrecorded variant of Old English byht (‘a bend, curve’), from Proto-West Germanic *buhti, from Proto-Germanic *buhtiz (‘a bend’). For the sense development compare bender.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *bʰewgʰ- ‘to bend’
buy, bought, bee, badge, bail, bow, rainbow, bagel, bight, 3 more
Today it means
noun A period of something, especially one painful or unpleasant, like an illness.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *bʰewgʰ- / bout