bulle (French)
Where does "bulle" come from?
French bulle “bubble” was borrowed from Latin bulla, passing through Old French bulle into Middle French before reaching modern French. Along the way, the Latin word referred to a rounded object and also gave Old French senses like a seal, while modern French kept the idea of a bubble and later extended it to speech or thought bubbles. It is a doublet of French boule, which comes from the same source by a different historical path.
Full etymology tree
- bulle (French), 'bubble'
- borrowed from bulle (Middle French), 'bulla (amulet)'
- inherited from bulle (Old French), 'seal (a stamp in wax to seal a letter)'
- borrowed from bulla (Latin), 'a bubble'
- borrowed from unknown (Gaulish)
- inherited from *bew- (Proto-Indo-European)
- derived from *bʰel- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to sound; to speak, roar, bark'
- borrowed from unknown (Gaulish)
- borrowed from bulla (Latin), 'a bubble'
- inherited from bulle (Old French), 'seal (a stamp in wax to seal a letter)'
- borrowed from bulle (Middle French), 'bulla (amulet)'
Ancestors
- bulle (Middle French)
- bulle (Old French)
- bulla (Latin)
Cognates and doublets
- boule (French)
Descendants and derived words
- niveau à bulle (French)
- papier bulle (French)
- tri à bulles (French)
Updated April 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris