bazar (French)
Where does "bazar" come from?
The French word "bazar" originates from the Persian term "bâzâr," meaning a marketplace, which traces its deepest roots back to Middle Persian and potentially ancient Indo-European concepts of exchange. After passing through Ottoman Turkish, it entered Middle French by the 15th century. Over time, its meaning shifted in colloquial French from a simple market to describe a jumble of things, a mess, or even a place of disorder.
Full etymology tree
- bazar (French), 'bazaar'
- inherited bazar (Middle French)
- borrowed بازار (bazar) (Ottoman Turkish), 'market, mart, fair'
- borrowed بَازَار (bāzār) (Classical Persian)
- inherited wʾčʾl (wāzār) (Middle Persian)
- borrowed بَازَار (bāzār) (Classical Persian)
- borrowed بازار (bazar) (Ottoman Turkish), 'market, mart, fair'
- inherited bazar (Middle French)
Ancestors
- بازار (Ottoman Turkish)
- بازار (Persian)
Updated July 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris