Join free

bourdon

English · Français

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

bourdon¹

  • /ˈbʊədən/ UK
  • /ˈbɔːdən/ UK
  • /ˈbʊɹdən/ US
  • /ˈbɔɹdən/ US

Where it comes from

Inherited from Middle English burdoun (“accompaniment”), from Old French bordon, from Medieval Latin burdō, burdōnem (“drone”), probably from Frankish *buʀdō (“grub, beetle, cricket, bumblebee”), related to Old English budda (“beetle”), Saterland Frisian Budde (“worm or grub used as fishbait”), Icelandic budda (“purse”). The modern pronunciation and form (for *burdon) is influenced by modern French bourdon.

noun bourdons

  1. archaic The burden or bass of a melody. The earth tremors resumed and made a bourdon to the loud psalms that they sang, interspersed with the odd ode of Horace recited by Silas.
  2. The drone pipe of a bagpipe.
  3. The lowest-pitched stop of an organ. The dim roar of London was like the bourdon note of a distant organ.
  4. The lowest-pitched bell of a carillon.
  5. A large, low-pitched bell not part of a diatonically tuned ring of bells.
  6. A bumblebee, genus Bombus.

bourdon²

  • /ˈbʊədən/ UK
  • /ˈbɔːdən/ UK
  • /ˈbʊɹdən/ US
  • /ˈbɔɹdən/ US

Where it comes from

Inherited from Middle English burdoun (“pilgrim's staff”), from Old French bordon, from Medieval Latin burdō, burdōnem (“pilgrim's staff”). The modern pronunciation and form is also influenced by modern French bourdon.

noun bourdons · bordon · burdon

  1. historical a pilgrim's staff. The left hand was gone, this held the bourdon or pilgrim's staff, a small portion only of which appeared over the scrip.

Bourdon³

noun

  1. A flute stop on an organ of 8', 16' or 32', generally characterized by a low, dark tone.

proper noun Bourdons

  1. A surname from French.

Talk about this word

Cite this
MLA

"bourdon." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/bourdon. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

bourdon. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/bourdon

Chicago

"bourdon." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/bourdon.

BibTeX
@misc{bourdon_2026,
  title = {bourdon},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/bourdon},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}