bichon
English
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/98/Bichon_Frise_red_background.jpg/250px-Bichon_Frise_red_background.jpg)
Etymology
Pronunciation
Noun
bichon (plural bichons)
- Any of a class of toy dogs with curly or wavy hair and long curled tails.
- (especially Canada, US) A Bichon Frisé.
Derived terms
Translations
See also
Further reading
French
Etymology
Inherited from Middle French bichon (“small long-haired dog”), from Old French biche (“bitch, female dog”), from Old English biċċe (“female dog”), from Proto-West Germanic *bikkjā, from Proto-Germanic *bikjǭ (“female dog, bitch”). Cognate with Old Norse bikkja (“female dog”), German Betze (“female dog”). Doublet of bitch, see here for more.
Alternative etymology derives through clipping of barbichon (“small poodle”), a diminutive of barbiche (“shaggy dog”), however, chronology makes this derivation improbable if not impossible, as bichon is attested since 1588, yet barbichon does not appear until 1694.
Pronunciation
Noun
bichon m (plural bichons, feminine bichonne)
Derived terms
Further reading
- “bichon”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
- English terms borrowed from French
- English terms derived from French
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- Canadian English
- American English
- en:Dogs
- French terms inherited from Middle French
- French terms derived from Middle French
- French terms derived from Old French
- French terms derived from Old English
- French terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- French terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- French doublets
- French clippings
- French 2-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French terms with audio links
- French lemmas
- French nouns
- French countable nouns
- French masculine nouns
- fr:Dogs