Etymology
1. O.E.
bord "a plank, flat surface," from P.Gmc.
*bortham (cf. Goth.
fotu-baurd "foot-stool," Ger.
Brett "plank"), from PIE
*bhrdho- "board," from base
*bher- "to cut." See also board (2), with which this is so confused as practically to form one word. A
board is thinner than a
plank, and generally less than 2.5 inches thick. The transf. meaning "food" (1386) is an extension of the O.E. sense of "table;" hence, also,
above board "honest, open" (1620). Another extension is to "council (that meets at a table)," 1613.
Boarder is attested from 1530.
Boarding-school is from 1677.
Boardwalk is from 1872, originally Amer.Eng.
2. Board (duplicate bridge)
3. From Middle English boord, boorde, bord, bourd, burd, from Old English bord, from Proto-West Germanic *bord, from Proto-Germanic *burdą (“board, plank; edge; table”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰers- (“tip, top”) + *-dʰeti or *bʰerH- (“to pierce; to strike”) + *-dʰeti. The senses "food" and "council" are by metonymy from the sense "table".
4. Cognates
5. Cognate with Scots buird (“board; table”), Yola borde (“table”), West Frisian boerd (“board”), Dutch bord (“dish, plate; board, plank; sign”), boord (“border, boundary; bank, shore”), German Bord (“shelf”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish bord (“plank; table”), Elfdalian buord (“table”), Faroese and Icelandic borð (“board, plank; table”), Gothic *𐌱𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌳 (*baurd, “board, plank”) (whence 𐍆𐍉𐍄𐌿𐌱𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌳 (fōtubaurd, “footstool”).
Verbs referencing "board"
English
border, Ido abordar, Xhosa
bhoda.