Origins of Common Words - Bachelor

About the history, origins, and definitions of the common word bachelor.

UNCOMMON STORIES BEHIND COMMON WORDS

Bachelor - Though the Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology concludes that "the ultimate source and connexions are doubtful," many sources trace bachelor to the Latin baccalarius, a laborer on an estate. This, in turn, came originally from bacca, "cow," which suggests that the unmarried man of today once tended cows in ancient Rome.