buckle

C2+ Topic:General Vocabulary

US /ˈbʌkəl/ UK /ˈbʌkəl/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
a clasp for fastening a strap; to fasten, bend, or collapse under strain

The bridge began to buckle under the weight of the crowd.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a clasp for fastening a... clasp fastener clip catch collapse crumple warp

Opposites

unbuckle unfasten straighten

Simplified etymology

Buckle in the sense “fastener” comes from Old French bocle “buckle, boss,” from Latin buccula “cheek strap of a helmet,” ultimately based on bucca “cheek.” The verb in buckle under a weight or strain has a separate French source, boucler “to bulge.”

Etymology

From Old French bocle ('boss of a shield, buckle'), from Latin buccula ('cheek strap of a helmet'), diminutive of bucca ('cheek'). The verb sense 'bend, collapse' comes from a separate borrowing of French boucler ('to bulge').

bocle Old French buccula Latin bucca Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

General Vocabulary

External links

# buckle

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

## Meanings
1. a clasp for fastening a strap; to fasten, bend, or collapse under strain

## Examples
- The bridge began to buckle under the weight of the crowd.

## Synonyms
- clasp
- fastener
- clip
- catch
- collapse
- crumple
- warp

## Antonyms
- unbuckle
- unfasten
- straighten

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: bocle
- Root: buccula
- Root: bucca

## Etymology
From Old French bocle ('boss of a shield, buckle'), from Latin buccula ('cheek strap of a helmet'), diminutive of bucca ('cheek'). The verb sense 'bend, collapse' comes from a separate borrowing of French boucler ('to bulge').

## AI Etymology
Buckle comes from Old French bocle ('boss of a shield, buckle'), from Latin buccula ('cheek strap of a helmet'), diminutive of bucca ('cheek'). The verb sense 'bend, collapse' comes from a separate borrowing of French boucler ('to bulge'). The historical trail runs through bocle in Old French, buccula in Latin, and bucca in Latin. Used as a noun and verb, buckle now means "a clasp for fastening a strap; to fasten, bend, or collapse under strain", so the present definition can be read against the older forms and meanings. The result is a borrowed or transmitted form whose modern spelling carries a compact record of its route into English.

## Topics
- General Vocabulary

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