bureau
pronunciation
How to pronounce bureau in British English:
UK [ˈbjʊərəʊ]
How to pronounce bureau in American English:
US [ˈbjʊroʊ]
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- Noun:
- an administrative unit of government
- furniture with drawers for keeping clothes
Word Origin
- bureau
- bureau: [17] Etymologically, bureau seems to mean ‘red’. Its ultimate source is probably Greek purrhós ‘red’, a derivative of pur ‘fire’ (as in English pyre and pyrotechnic), which is related to English fire. This was borrowed into Latin as burrus, which developed into Old French bure ‘dark brown’. This seems to have formed the basis of a derivative burel, later bureau, meaning ‘dark brown cloth’.This cloth was used for covering the writing surface of desks, and so eventually bureau came to mean ‘writing desk’ itself. Offices being the natural habitat of writing desks, bureau was later applied to them too. The derivative bureaucracy is 19th-century, of French origin.=> pyre, pyrotechnic
- bureau (n.)
- 1690s, "desk with drawers, writing desk," from French bureau "office; desk, writing table," originally "cloth covering for a desk," from burel "coarse woolen cloth" (as a cover for writing desks), Old French diminutive of bure "dark brown cloth," which is perhaps either from Latin burrus "red," or from Late Latin burra "wool, shaggy garment." Offices being full of such desks, the meaning expanded 1720 to "division of a government." Meaning "chest of drawers" is from 1770, said to be American English but early in British use.
Example
- 1. Guangzhou public security bureau did not respond to queries .
- 2. The writers are the ft 's moscow bureau chief and correspondent .
- 3. And I 'm asking every regional bureau to make this issue a priority .
- 4. To report better on the palestinians , the bbc will open a bureau in the west bank .
- 5. The hong kong police force 's commercial crime bureau raided citic pacific 's headquarters building on april 3 .