brouhaha (English)

Where does "brouhaha" come from?

English 'brouhaha' was borrowed from French 'brouhaha'[1], and it means a stir, fuss, or uproar. Where the French word came from is unsettled. One proposal links it, through assimilation, to the Hebrew phrase 'barúkh habá', meaning 'welcome' and literally 'blessed is he who comes', which appears in Psalm 118:26[2]. Another theory holds that the word is onomatopoeic, imitating noise[2]. In French, the sense moved toward a 'noisy meeting'[2].

Open questions

• The French origin is disputed, with one proposal linking it to the Hebrew 'barúkh habá' through assimilation and another suggesting it is onomatopoeic. [1] [2]
• The shift in French from a general noise to a 'noisy meeting' is described in the source without detailed dating or evidence for how it happened. [2]

Full etymology tree

• brouhaha (English), 'A stir; a fuss or uproar.'
  • borrowed brouhaha (French), 'brouhaha'

Ancestors

• brouhaha (French)

Sources

1. brouhaha (English) - Wiktionary
2. brouhaha (French) - Wiktionary

Updated October 2026

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Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris