# brouhaha

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brouhaha/95950>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 29, 2001, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brouhaha/95950 "2001-11-29T16:53:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![holdenmagroin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5daacb/32.png) [@holdenmagroin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/holdenmagroin)\
**Post date:** [November 29, 2001, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brouhaha/95950/1 "2001-11-29T16:53:24Z")

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Where did the worh “brouhaha” come from. [Dictionary.com](http://Dictionary.com) defines it as a hubbub. I always thought that was such a funny word, I’d like to know how it came to be.

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**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\
**Post date:** [November 29, 2001, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brouhaha/95950/2 "2001-11-29T17:08:15Z")

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According to [The Word Detective](http://www.word-detective.com/back-a2.html#brouhaha) it’s called that because that’s what one sounds like.

> [@](#):
>
> It is probably what linguists call an “echoic” or “imitative” word, the “haha” in particular imitating the sound of a noisy squabble.

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**Author:** ![Hemlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Hemlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hemlock)\
**Post date:** [November 29, 2001, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brouhaha/95950/3 "2001-11-29T17:11:19Z")

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According to my Concise OED, it’s from French. Being concise, it doesn’t say why.