## Meanings
1. A government department or office that deals with a particular task.
2. An office that collects or provides information or a service.
3. A chest of drawers, or a writing desk with drawers.

## Examples
- She works for the federal bureau of statistics.
- They booked the trip through a local travel bureau.
- He kept his socks in the top drawer of the bureau.

## Derived Forms
- bu
- bureaucrat
- bureaugamous
- bureausis
- extrabureau
- multibureau
- subbureau
- telebureau

## Related Forms
- bureau-ocracy
- bureaucracy
- bureaucrat
- bureaucratic
- bureaugamy
- burel

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: bureau
- Root: burel
- Root: burra

## Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from French bureau, earlier "coarse cloth (as desk cover), baize", from Old French burel (“woolen cloth”), diminutive of *bure (compare Middle French bure (“coarse woolen cloth”), French bourre (“hair, fluff”)), from Late Latin burra (“wool, fluff, shaggy cloth, coarse fabric”); akin to Ancient Greek βερβέριον (berbérion, “shabby garment”). Doublet of burel and borrel, taken from Old French.

## AI Etymology
Bureau is an unadapted borrowing from French bureau, earlier "coarse cloth (as desk cover), baize", from Old French burel (“woolen cloth”), diminutive of *bure (compare Middle French bure (“coarse woolen cloth”), French bourre (“hair, fluff”)), from Late Latin burra (“wool, fluff, shaggy cloth, coarse fabric”); akin to Ancient Greek βερβέριον (berbérion, “shabby garment”). Doublet of burel and borrel, taken from Old French.

## Topics
- Work & Careers

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