bosom

C2+ Topic:Emotions & Feelings

US /ˈbʊzəm/ UK /ˈbʊzəm/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
the chest or breast, especially as the seat of emotion; close and intimate

She clutched the letter to her bosom and wept.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · the chest or breast,... breast chest bust heart

Word family

Forms bosomy

Derived forms bosomy

Etymology

From Old English bōsm ('bosom, breast, lap'), from Proto-Germanic *bōsmaz, of uncertain further origin, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *bʰō- ('to grow, swell').

bōsm Old English *bōsmaz Proto-Germanic

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Emotions & Feelings

External links

# bosom

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈbʊzəm/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈbʊzəm/

## Meanings
1. the chest or breast, especially as the seat of emotion; close and intimate

## Examples
- She clutched the letter to her bosom and wept.

## Synonyms
- breast
- chest
- bust
- heart

## Derived Forms
- bosomy

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: bōsm
- Root: *bōsmaz

## Etymology
From Old English bōsm ('bosom, breast, lap'), from Proto-Germanic *bōsmaz, of uncertain further origin, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *bʰō- ('to grow, swell').

## AI Etymology
Bosom comes from Old English bōsm ('bosom, breast, lap'), from Proto-Germanic *bōsmaz, of uncertain further origin, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *bʰō- ('to grow, swell'). The historical trail runs through bōsm in Old English and *bōsmaz in Proto-Germanic. The history must be left partly open, preserving the uncertainty rather than forcing a single unsupported ancestry. Used as a noun and adjective, bosom now means "the chest or breast, especially as the seat of emotion; close and intimate", so the present definition can be read against the older forms and meanings. The same lexical family is also visible in derived forms such as bosomy. That uncertainty is part of the entry: the safest account is the attested form and the limited comparisons preserved with it.

## Topics
- Emotions & Feelings

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