bouc

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French bouc (“male goat”), from Old French buc (“male goat”), from Latin buccus, perhaps from the confluence of Frankish *bukk (“male goat”) (compare Old Dutch buck (“male goat”)), from Proto-Germanic *bukkaz, *bukkô (“male goat”), and Gaulish *bukkos (“male goat”) (compare Middle Breton bouch (“goat”), Old Cornish boch (“goat”), Old Irish boc (“buck”)), from Proto-Celtic *bukkos (“goat”), both from Proto-Indo-European *bʰuǵ- (“goat, buck, ram”). More at buck.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /buk/

• Audio; “un bouc”:

  (file)

Noun

bouc m (plural boucs, feminine chèvre)

1. billy goat
   • 1845, Hans Christian Andersen, La Bergère et le Ramoneur:

     Au milieu de l’armoire on voyait sculpté un homme d’une singulière apparence : il ricanait toujours, car on ne pouvait pas dire qu’il riait. Il avait des jambes de bouc, de petites cornes à la tête et une longue barbe. Les enfants l’appelaient le Grand-général-commandant-en-chef-Jambe-de-Bouc, nom qui peut paraître long et difficile, mais titre dont peu de personnes ont été honorées jusqu’à présent.

     In the middle of the wardrobe was a sculpture of a man with a peculiar appearance. He was always sneering – you couldn't call it laughing. He had the legs of a goat, little horns on his head and a long beard. The children called him Grand-General-Commander-in-Chief-Goat-Legs. The name may seem long and difficult, but very few people have been honoured with that title until now.

2. goatee

   Synonym: barbiche f

Derived terms

• bouc émissaire m
• boucher

Further reading

• “bouc”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Middle Dutch

Noun

bouc

1. Alternative spelling of boec

Middle French

Etymology

Old French buc, boc; see above.

Noun

bouc m (plural boucs)

1. male goat