# Etymology of Synonyms of Breasts **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 26, 2002, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-synonyms-of-breasts/120852 "2002-07-26T00:56:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wolfian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Wolfian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfian)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2002, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-synonyms-of-breasts/120852/1 "2002-07-26T00:56:43Z")
Of the many, many synonyms of breasts two evolutions escape me: boobs and hooters. Tits is a corruption of teats. Knockers is a reference to a motion. Jugs seems to have two reasons 1) the shape a jug and 2) the fact that both can carry liquid. I can’t get boobs and hooters, though. I tried the OED website, but I found that it has become a subscription site. Help me, Dopers. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2002, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-synonyms-of-breasts/120852/2 "2002-07-26T02:55:50Z")
**Boobs** doesn’t appear in print in English until the early 1900’s. It is a variant of _bubby_ which meant breasts back as far as 1655 in print. The term **jugs** only appears in print around the 1950’s. Hooters appears about the same time, the 1960’s or so. ---
**Author:** ![Pythagoras](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@Pythagoras](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pythagoras)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2002, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-synonyms-of-breasts/120852/3 "2002-07-26T03:18:16Z")
The term “ **Gams** ” fascinates me. Its old enough that I can start commenting on girls “gams” to their faces and they wont know what Im talking about. ---
**Author:** ![partly\_warmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc8723/32.png) [@partly\_warmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/partly_warmer)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2002, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-synonyms-of-breasts/120852/4 "2002-07-26T03:27:49Z")
[This site](http://www.inf.fu-berlin.de/~gramm/essais/ShakespearesBawdy.htm) has some interesting information on the origin of the base word. The slang terms for popular body regions are huge in number, so there may be some hesitancy in running them all to ground. “The Best of Maledicta” includes “titties”, “braces and bits”, “east and west”, “Jersey City”, “thousand pities”, “towns and countries”, and “fainting fits”. In terms of the OP, “hooters” seems straightforward: The bulb of the horn one squeezes on early automobiles or on bicycles. Similar texture and shape. And the sound, well, that’s just a nice fantasy. As for “boobs”, searching on “boobs etymology” will get you this: [http://www.breastchronicles.net/zine/etymology.shtml](http://www.breastchronicles.net/zine/etymology.shtml) where some apparently overeducated and oversexed nutter has come up with this fairly convincing definition: “Boobs, Boo·bies Function: noun Etymology: modification of Spanish bobo, from Latin balbus stammering, probably of imitative origin Date: circa 1603” ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2002, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-synonyms-of-breasts/120852/5 "2002-07-26T04:07:11Z")
> [@](#): > > “Boobs, Boo·bies Function: noun > Etymology: modification of Spanish bobo, from Latin balbus stammering, probably of imitative origin > Date: circa 1603” Warning! Ignore the above as it has nothing to do with breasts. The creator of the site listed by **partly\_warmer** totally blew that one. The website ostensibly deals with breasts, but the **poor boob** who listed the cite above was quoting what the M-W has to say about the origin/etymology of the term **booby=stupid person** rather than when the term **booby=breast** came into use. What a bobo! ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2002, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-synonyms-of-breasts/120852/6 "2002-07-26T04:21:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Pythagoras \* > \*\*The term “ **Gams** ” fascinates me. Its old enough that I can start commenting on girls “gams” to their faces and they wont know what Im talking about. \*\* _They_ don’t know what you’re talking about? The question is whether _you_ know what you’re talking about. Gams are legs, not breasts. ---
**Author:** ![partly\_warmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc8723/32.png) [@partly\_warmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/partly_warmer)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2002, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-synonyms-of-breasts/120852/7 "2002-07-26T06:12:36Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by samclem \* > \*\* The creator of the site listed by **partly\_warmer** totally blew that one. The website ostensibly deals with breasts, but the **poor boob** who listed the cite above was quoting what the M-W has to say about the origin/etymology of the term **booby=stupid person** rather than when the term **booby=breast** came into use._\* Oh, very well. On reflection, with barely two Spanish stones to strike together, i tend to agree with you. Instead, I give you this [http://www.mindlesscrap.com/origins/more-a.htm](http://www.mindlesscrap.com/origins/more-a.htm) , which I make no claims for, but which seems prefered. ---
**Author:** ![Wolfian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Wolfian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfian)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2002, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-synonyms-of-breasts/120852/8 "2002-07-26T23:52:43Z")
Thanks, everyone. **Pythagoras** , I agree. “Gams” is a great word. I actually met a short girl with the last name “Gambacorta” (short leg). I love Romance languages. I met another with the name “Bonavitacola” (good life cola according to every Italian teacher and speaker I ask). That has nothing to do with body parts, but cool anyway. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2002, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-synonyms-of-breasts/120852/9 "2002-07-27T01:12:50Z")
**partly\_warmer**. Your last site ain’t much better than the previous one. The new one states > [@](#): > > While there’s never been a definitive link between the slang word for breast and the lumps that appeared on the bodies of victims of the Black Death or bubonic plague, the use of the word “boob” started sometime around the time of the Black Plaque. This is the history as presented in Cassell’s Dictionary of Slang > > .Bubo - from the 14th century, refers to a swelling of some kind. The word bubonic is derived from bubo. > Bubby - from the late 17th century, refers to a breast or both breasts together. > Bube - from the late 18th century, refers to a venereal disease. Bube also is a derivative of bubo. > Booby - started around the 1910s. It has been established that it came from Bubby. > Boob - started in the 1940s, and traced to the word booby. Just picking apart this statement > [@](#): > > the use of the word “boob” started sometime around the time of the Black Plaque. is pretty easy. First, I am not aware that there was a problem with teeth that were discolored in that time period. Hell, probably everyone that still had their teeth had black/brown/ugly teeth. That site is written by a moron. He says that “boob” started being used around the 1350’s(Black Plaque(sic)), and here I assume he means in London. He then, later, says that the word _boob_ "started in the 1940s, and traced to the word booby. Which he traces back to the 1920’s. Boob just doesn’t appear before the 20th century. There is no way that “bubo” which is a word in the 14th century and also in older Latin has a demonstrable link to “bubbies” a few centuries later. No respectable etymologist has suggested so. ---
**Author:** ![partly\_warmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc8723/32.png) [@partly\_warmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/partly_warmer)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2002, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-synonyms-of-breasts/120852/10 "2002-07-27T03:42:51Z")
**samclem** , i confess i did no thorough research on the word, not expecting (as I should) that any word with such emotionally loaded connotations must be the subject of any number of crackpot etymologies. I thought the OP was interesting, and was trying to keep it rolling. You didn’t help, however, by not giving the cites for the definitions you supplied. I assume they’re from the OED? By-the-by, I didn’t choose my second, more considered, citation without conformation. I had heard the definition of boob relating to the Black Death in university. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2002, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-synonyms-of-breasts/120852/11 "2002-07-27T04:38:11Z")
Sorry about lack of sources. While “bubby” is indeed from the OED, the other info is from _Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang, Vol. I_ by J.E. Lighter. I usually just say “…Lighter says” but forgot to this time. ---
**Author:** ![partly\_warmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc8723/32.png) [@partly\_warmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/partly_warmer)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2002, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-synonyms-of-breasts/120852/12 "2002-07-29T04:53:01Z")
Well, the problem I’ve had running “boobs” to ground, so to speak, is manifold, now. There are several similar words, and many sources do not supply a citation in a sentence, so it’s not easy to see whether the word has the correct sense and whether it’s just been misspelled. Somewhat similar words are: boobs, boob, booby, boobie, bubbies, bubby, bubo. Various theories are that it came from German (bubbi), or is imitative, meaning, it’s possibly baby talk. Neither Merriam-Webster nor the OED tie all these “breast” words together, and given that they both used to shy away from investigations of risqué words, the underlying scholarship to decide what the “ultimate” origin is may not be in place. Bubo definitely seems connected with the Black Death. It’s an enlarged node. Ugh. I’d give a cite, but it’s not pleasant. Suffice it to say, these things look like little breasts. Who knows whether it’s a part of the etymology of one of these other words? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2002, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-synonyms-of-breasts/120852/13 "2002-07-30T04:02:33Z")
**partly\_warmer**. I’ll try to lay it out in good order for you, to the best of my ability. There was a Latin word, _bubo_, which describe a swelling of glandular parts of a body which was infected with bubonic pla **g** ue. The affected parts were quite often the groin and the arm pit. The Greeks also had such a word, something like _boubon_ which meant _groin_. The term/word _bubo_ appears in print in English in 1398. It was borrowed from MIddle English. Any mention of a word with “bubxxx” meaning “breasts” doesn’t appear in print in English until 1655. It was repeated in print in 1675. In both cases it was spelled **bubbies**. But you have to remember, these people back in these early days weren’t as bashful as we are/were some 500 years later. If a breast was a boob, they’d have said it. There wasn’t a lot of time for prudishness. And the **OED** doesn’t censor words such as “boob.” **FUCK** and \*\* cocksucker\*\* may be another matter, but they ain’t what were’re discussing here. So, the first time a word appears in print in English as a slang synonym for “breasts” is 1655. _250_ years after the word “bubo” shows up in a plague reference. I’ll admit the fact that they both start with **bu** is tempting to hang one’s hat on. But there just isn’t any other reason to connect the words. **Bubonic** as a word show up in 1795, a bit late to be included in the discussion. You suggest that the word **bubbi** is Germanic and may have been a source. Can you provide a link/source? Of course **boob, booby, boobs, boobie** , are all 20th century concoctions, when referring to breasts. Just because swollen lymph nodes may look like a breast, you can’t just assume that may be the origin. It could be, but the evidence is probably against it. ---
**Author:** ![partly\_warmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc8723/32.png) [@partly\_warmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/partly_warmer)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2002, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-synonyms-of-breasts/120852/14 "2002-07-30T07:11:37Z")
Excuse for not stating suppositions clearly. I actually spent some time going through books and Internet searching, and was beginning to suspect the necessary foundation to find these derivations isn’t readily forthcoming. 1. As far as I know, you’re right that people were less bashful about “crude” speech 400 years ago. However, the OED started as a product of Victorian morality, the extreme opposite, and did not encourage investigation–in the first edition–of impolite language. Quote from the forward to the supplement to the first edition: “After careful consideration of the matter, it was decided to admit to the _Supplement_ the sexually taboo words formerly thought too gross and vulgar to be given countenance within the covers of a dictionary.” I strongly doubt the Victorian supression was limited to just words like “fuck”. 2. I can only guess, but the Black Death “bubo” seems a red herring in all this. It sounds suspeciously like some tidy historian trying to explain that bubos look like little breasts. I’m agreeing, it probably isn’t germaine to the central modern word senses. 3. Here’s the cite for the German word “bubbi”, meaning “teat”. [http://www.takeourword.com/Issue052.html](http://www.takeourword.com/Issue052.html). I don’t know much German, so I can’t judge whether their statements are correct. (Which _doesn’t_ mean, by the way, that I don’t have some general sense of whether it’s convincing). 4. If “bubby” is really imitative, as Webster’s suggests, then a good part of etymology goes out the window. If two children from different Germanic languages were transcribed talking baby-talk…well…I wouldn’t accept either the interpretation or the inscription as hard fact. The word “imitative” to me, is etymological slight-of-hand meaning: “No clue, it sounds like baby talk”. 5. I’m distrustful, after years of reading the OED, of any etymology without example sentences. A word can shift form and spelling quite suddenly, if popularized by some event. That’s why I’m not looking for a Greek or Latin root for boobs, and I’d certainly agree with you that that fact that several words starting with **bu** or some permutation is no reason to assume they have a relationship. I’d be more convinced if I could see these words quoted in historical sentences, but that information doesn’t seem readily available. As it is, I think we’re emeshed in the thankless task of stringing together quite marginal sources previous to 1900. ---
**Author:** ![Chimonger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/45deac/32.png) [@Chimonger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimonger)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2016, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-synonyms-of-breasts/120852/15 "2016-09-25T21:39:03Z")
Always wondered about derivation of ‘hooters’…now can add that as connected to the old squeeze-bulb car horns…more mind-flotsam! Sorry, my sources are scattered over a longish lifetime collecting all sorts of trivia. So, back to derivation of “boobs”… It seems a bit cloistered, that main dictionaries omit possible other-cultural sources; that is rather like claiming the history of the world only includes modern European, not Asians, Africans, or Native Americas, etc. to put things into better context. Consider how basic nurturing is; therefore, basic words that cross cultures easily, often hiding in plain sight, or behind closed doors, references to the family nursemaid, grandma, etc., and other affectionate colloquial terms/polite euphemisms used for nurturing persons or body parts. The Yiddish name for grandmother is bubbe. Other transliterated forms include bube, bubby and bubbie. It may even link to the Russian ‘babushka’, some contact that to ‘baba’, the ancient Russian word for married woman [who breastfeeds her babies] and easily morphs to ‘boob’ or ‘boobie’. There’s even a possibility of it deriving farther back, related to Hindi for ‘Auntie’, as that title is commonly used in many cultures worldwide, for any woman close to a child who also nurtures/guides, if the Mother is absent: “Bū’ā”. In olden times [more than about 100 years ago, though it differs by where/when in the world, as cultures vary widely], some women breast feed babies into old age [if recalled rightly, the _oldest_ recorded breastfeeding woman was in her mid-80’s] Breast feeding was less restricted to the Mother in many tribal or other cultural context. Fairly common for tribal women to pass a hungry baby to whichever nursing woman was handy, if they had to go do something else, for instance. Or, in stratified societies, upper-class women hired [or had slaves or indentured servants] women to nurse [breastfeed] their babies. These could be any age woman who was lactating. Including lactating grandmothers. Grandmother is a nurturer; breastfeeding is a nurturing activity. Aunties are nurturers. And, babies often cannot pronounce words, and reduce ‘breast’ down to ‘boob’, Bubbie, or similar. “Boob” in reference to breast, seems logically connected, because it has to do with nurturing…and it rolls out of the mouth easily…and boobs are funny, as any child knows…as do ‘sophomoric’ teens…who better to spread unofficial [slang or 2nd language] words? Yiddish grandmothers have been called Bubbie [sp varies], for at least several hundred years. Also, Bubbaleh [various spelling], a term of endearment/near to the heart…surely nurturing breasts are ‘dear’ [literally, life depended on them]? Words often lack a sharp derivation; esp. for colloquial, informal words. Mashing together ancient Russian Baba + Yiddish Bubbie + societal closed-door habits and endearing terms, could easily be where “boob” came from. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2016, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-synonyms-of-breasts/120852/16 "2016-09-26T00:35:25Z")
There’s a theory in linguistics, I can’t remember what it’s called, that says that people tend to associate B sounds with round, soft things, and K sounds with sharp, angular things. I _think_ that this has even been found to hold across widely different cultures. If true, it would certainly be consistent with breasts being called “boobies”, or something of the sort. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2016, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-synonyms-of-breasts/120852/17 "2016-09-26T01:45:00Z")
**Chimonger** , what you’re doing is called “folk etymology”. (It’s also called “necroposting”, since you’re replying to a post that was made over 14 years ago.) Folk etymology is fun and entertaining, but it’s useless as a method to discover actual word origins. Many words look related but aren’t, and many words are related but don’t look similar due to language drift over time. There are scientific methods for finding word origins, based on studying documented uses of words over time. Unfortunately the relevant information is not always preserved, so it’s not always possible to discover the actual evolution of words. But making up stories about them doesn’t usefully fill the gaps. Here is what [Etymology Online](http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=boobs) says about “boobs”, which unfortunately as in many cases is not very definitive: > [@](#): > > “breasts,” 1929, U.S. slang, probably from much older term boobies (late 17c.), related to 17c. bubby; perhaps ultimately from Latin puppa, literally “little girl,” hence, in child-talk, “breast.” Or else it is a natural formation in English (compare French poupe “teat,” German dialectal Bubbi, etc.). –Mark ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2016, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-synonyms-of-breasts/120852/18 "2016-09-26T01:58:23Z")
**Chronos** , what you’re referring to is the [Bouba/kiki effect](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bouba/kiki_effect), where both American English speakers and Indian Tamil speakers associate “bouba” with a rounded shape and “kiki” with an angular shape. It is interesting that the “round” word they use, bouba, is so similar to “boobs”, but it’s hard to say whether it’s actually relevant to the development of the word (or even whether the causality was the other way around; maybe the English-speaking researchers chose the word bouba because of unconscious influence from “boobs”). –Mark ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2016, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-synonyms-of-breasts/120852/19 "2016-09-26T01:58:35Z")
> [@Chimonger](#): > > Mashing together ancient Russian Baba + Yiddish Bubbie + societal closed-door habits and endearing terms, could easily be where “boob” came from. This is folk etymology, usually defined as someone looking through a pile of words and making associations because they feel like it _should_ be true. I can’t think of a single case in history in which a real world derivation developed this way. You have to go through actual sentences written by actual people for real world etymology. Not as much fun. Not as easy. But at the end someone might take you seriously. Which will never happen with folk etymology. Sorry. [Etymonline.com](http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=boobs) wasn’t around in 2002 when this thread started. Here’s what it has to say: > [@](#): > > boobs (n.) > “breasts,” 1929, U.S. slang, probably from much older term boobies (late 17c.), related to 17c. bubby; perhaps ultimately from Latin puppa, literally “little girl,” hence, in child-talk, “breast.” Or else it is a natural formation in English (compare French poupe “teat,” German dialectal Bubbi, etc.). Note that the history dates back to the 1600s in England, which would toss out any possible derivation from Yiddish. And as said earlier, just because two words start with “bu” doesn’t make them related. ETA: markn+'s post wasn’t there when I composed this. But great minds… ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2016, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-synonyms-of-breasts/120852/20 "2016-09-26T03:02:19Z")
Wait, so I’ve been a _little_ tit all this while? And this is a good thing? No wonder you don’t see a lot of Jewish football players. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-synonyms-of-breasts/120852.md?page=2)