Noun: bourdon
| Singular | bourdon |
| Plural | bourdons |
Sample Sentences
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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. [1985, Anthony Burgess, Kingdom of the Wicked:]
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The dim roar of London was like the bourdon note of a distant organ. [1890, Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Vintage, published 2007, page 5:]
Nouns inflected like bourdon
soldier's woundwort,
Nicosian,
whopper,
greypate,
tactile sign language,
chronotrope,
Rosie Lee,
dissentient,
photoinactivator,
sulphonediimine,
coastal waterfall,
residuary devise,
bituminization,
nitrosonaphthol,
smṛiti,
geosphere,
backscreen,
mensuralist,
flocculate,
flocculant, etc. (List truncated at 20 nouns)
Etymology
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. See: Middle English Nouns '
burdoun', Middle English Nouns '
burdoun', Old English Nouns '
budda', Icelandic Nouns '
budda', French Nouns '
bourdon'.