brouette
French
Etymology
Inherited from Middle French brouette, from Old French baroueste (“barrow, dumper with one wheel”), diminutive of barot (“barrow”), from Frankish *barwā, *barwijā (“barrow”), from Proto-Germanic *barwijǭ, *barwǭ (“barrow”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- (“to carry, bear”). Compare Picard barou (“barrow”), Franco-Provençal barotte (“barrow”), Bourguignon barrô (“barrow”), Italian baroccio (“cart”) from the same Germanic source. Cognate with Middle Dutch berie (“barrow”), Middle High German bere (“barrow”), Old English bearwe (“barrow”). More at barrow.
Old French baroueste was assimilated in form to Old French brouete, berouette, berouaite (“small two-wheeled cart”), believed to be a diminutive of Old Northern French *beroue, from Latin birota (“a two-wheel cart, usually drawn by horse or mule”), which may have additionally been conflated with the Germanic forms above.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /bʁu.ɛt/
brouette (file) Audio (file)
Noun
brouette f (plural brouettes)
- wheelbarrow; barrow (small vehicle used to carry a load and pulled or pushed by hand)
Verb
brouette
- inflection of brouetter:
- first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
- second-person singular imperative
Further reading
- “brouette”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Middle French
Alternative forms
- brouete (approximately as common)
Etymology
From Old French baroueste (“barrow, dumper with one wheel”), diminutive of barot (“barrow”), from Frankish *barwa, *berwa (“barrow”), from Proto-Germanic *barwijǭ, *barwǭ (“barrow”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- (“to carry, bear”).