bout

C2 Topic:Health & Medicine

US /ˈbaʊt/ See IPA manual

Freq #3879

Meanings

1

noun
A short period of an illness or of something unpleasant.

She is recovering from a nasty bout of flu.
2

noun
A boxing or wrestling match.

The two fighters met for their final bout on Saturday night.
3

noun
A short period of intense activity.

He went through a bout of frantic spending after his promotion.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a short period of an... attack

3 noun · a short period of intense... tear

Word family

Forms bouts

Derived forms boutfitinterbout

Etymology

From Middle English bout, bowt, bught (whence also modern English bought (“bend, curve”)), probably from Old English *buht (“bend, turn”), an unrecorded variant of Old English byht (“a bend, curve”), from Proto-West Germanic *buhti, from Proto-Germanic *buhtiz (“a bend”). Equivalent to bow + -t. Doublet of bight and bought. For the sense development compare bender.

*bʰewgʰ- Proto-Indo-European bout Middle English *buht Old English byht Old English *buhti Proto-West Germanic *buhtiz Proto-Germanic

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Health & Medicine

External links

# bout

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈbaʊt/
**Frequency rank:** 3879

## Meanings
1. A short period of an illness or of something unpleasant.
2. A boxing or wrestling match.
3. A short period of intense activity.

## Examples
- She is recovering from a nasty bout of flu.
- The two fighters met for their final bout on Saturday night.
- He went through a bout of frantic spending after his promotion.

## Derived Forms
- boutfit
- interbout

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *bʰewgʰ-
- Root: bout
- Root: *buht
- Root: byht
- Root: *buhti
- Root: *buhtiz

## Etymology
From Middle English bout, bowt, bught (whence also modern English bought (“bend, curve”)), probably from Old English *buht (“bend, turn”), an unrecorded variant of Old English byht (“a bend, curve”), from Proto-West Germanic *buhti, from Proto-Germanic *buhtiz (“a bend”). Equivalent to bow + -t. Doublet of bight and bought. For the sense development compare bender.

## AI Etymology
Bout is from Middle English bout, bowt, bught (whence also modern English bought (“bend, curve”)), probably from Old English *buht (“bend, turn”), an unrecorded variant of Old English byht (“a bend, curve”), from Proto-West Germanic *buhti, from Proto-Germanic *buhtiz (“a bend”). Equivalent to bow + -t. Doublet of bight and bought. For the sense development compare bender. The analysis is mainly morphological: the modern nominal form is built from the named base and affix. Important recorded forms include *bʰewgʰ- (Proto-Indo-European), bout (Middle English), *buht (Old English), byht (Old English), *buhti (Proto-West Germanic), and *buhtiz (Proto-Germanic). Current senses include a short period of an illness or of something unpleasant, a boxing or wrestling match, and a short period of intense activity. The wider family includes derived forms such as boutfit and interbout.

## Topics
- Health & Medicine

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