baron

Etymology

From Middle English baroun, from Old French baron, from Latin barōnem, from Proto-West Germanic *barō, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- (“to bear”). Cognate with Old High German baro (“human being, man, freeman”), Old English bora (“a man who bears responsibility, one who is in charge, a ruler”), and perhaps to Old English beorn (“man, warrior”). Used in early Germanic law in the sense of "man, human being".

A Celtic origin has also been suggested; see the quote under sense 3 of Latin barō. However, the OED takes the hypothetical Proto-Celtic *bar- (“hero”) to be a figment.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈbæɹən/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) enPR: bă'rən
  • (without the Mary–marry–merry merger) IPA^(key): /ˈbæɹən/
  • (Mary–marry–merry merger) IPA^(key): /ˈbɛəɹən/
• Rhymes: -æɹən
• Homophone: barren

Noun

baron (plural barons)

1. The male ruler of a barony.
2. A male member of the lowest rank of English nobility (the equivalent rank in Scotland is lord).

   Coordinate terms: don, duke, earl, lord, prince, baronet

3. (by extension) A person of great power in society, especially in business and politics.

   Synonyms: magnate, tycoon; see also Thesaurus:important person

   • c. 1948, George Orwell, Such, Such Were the Joys:

     There were a few exotics among them — some South American boys, sons of Argentine beef barons, one or two Russians, and even a Siamese prince, or someone who was described as a prince.

   • 2013 August 10, Lexington, “Keeping the mighty honest”, in The Economist‎, volume 408, number 8848:

     British journalists shun complete respectability, feeling a duty to be ready to savage the mighty, or rummage through their bins. Elsewhere in Europe, government contracts and subsidies ensure that press barons will only defy the mighty so far.

4. (UK, prison slang) A prisoner who gains power and influence by lending or selling goods such as tobacco.
   • 1960, Hugh J. Klare, Anatomy of Prison, page 33:

     The first thing a baron does is to accumulate a supply of tobacco. He spends every penny he can earn on laying it in […]

   • 1961, Peter Baker, Time out of life, page 51:

     Nevertheless, from my own agonies of the first few months, after which I did not miss smoking at all, I could appreciate the need of others. It was in this atmosphere of craving that the 'barons' thrived. Barons are prisoners who lend tobacco.

   • 1980, Leonard Michaels, Christopher Ricks, The State of the Language, page 525:

     In British prisons tobacco still remains the gold standard which is made to back every transaction and promise. The official allowance is barely sufficient for individual smoking needs, but tobacco may expensively be borrowed or bought from a baron, possibly through his runner.

5. A baron of beef, a cut made up of a double sirloin.
   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “chapter 34”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:

     Such portentous appetites had Queequeg and Tashtego, that to fill out the vacancies made by the previous repast, often the pale Dough-Boy was fain to bring on a great baron of salt-junk, seemingly quarried out of the solid ox.

6. Any of various nymphalid butterflies of the genus Euthalia.
7. (law, obsolete) A husband.

   Coordinate term: wife

   baron and femme ― husband and wife

References

• "baron n.", Oxford English Dictionary, Second edition, 1989; first published in New English Dictionary, 1885.

Anagrams

• NORBA, aborn, Nabor, Bonar, Barno, Borna, Orban, Abron, Rabon, bonar, Arbon

Etymology

Borrowed from Russian барон (baron).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [bɑˈron]
• Hyphenation: ba‧ron

Noun

baron (definite accusative baronu, plural baronlar)

1. baron

Further reading

• “baron” in Obastan.com.

Etymology

From Old Norse barún, from Old French baron.

Noun

baron c (singular definite baronen, plural indefinite baroner)

1. baron (a nobleman, in Denmark since 1849 without privileges)

References

• “baron” in Den Danske Ordbog

Etymology

Readjustment from earlier baroen through modern French influence, from Middle Dutch baroen, from Old French baron.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /baːˈrɔn/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ba‧ron
• Rhymes: -ɔn

Noun

baron m (plural baronnen, diminutive baronnetje n, feminine barones)

1. baron, a specific aristocratic title
2. a magnate, especially a wealthy and influential (industrial) entrepreneur

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈbaron]
• Rhymes: -aron
• Hyphenation: ba‧ron

Noun

baron

1. accusative singular of baro

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French baron, from Old French baron, from Latin barōnem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ba.ʁɔ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔ̃

Noun

baron m (plural barons, feminine baronne)

1. baron, lord, noble landowner

Further reading

• “baron”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• borna

Etymology

Borrowed from Dutch baron.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈbarɔn]
• Rhymes: -rɔn, -ɔn, -n
• Hyphenation: ba‧ron

Noun

baron (uncountable)

1. baron: the male ruler of a barony; a title for European noblemen.

Further reading

• “baron” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

Romanization

baron

1. Romanization of ꦧꦫꦺꦴꦤ꧀

Etymology 1

Etymology 2

Etymology

Inherited from Old French baron.

Noun

baron m (plural barons)

1. baron (nobleman)

Noun

baron m (plural barons)

1. Alternative form of bâron

Etymology

From Old Norse barún, from Old French baron.

Noun

baron m (definite singular baronen, indefinite plural baroner, definite plural baronene)

1. a baron

References

• “baron” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Etymology

From Old Norse barún, from Old French baron.

Noun

baron m (definite singular baronen, indefinite plural baronar, definite plural baronane)

1. a baron

References

• “baron” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *baʀōn, from Proto-Germanic *bazōną. Equivalent to bar +‎ -on.

Verb

baron

1. to reveal, to make public

Alternative forms

• baroun, barun

Etymology

Inherited from Latin barōnem.

The nominative singular ber is a regular outcome of the Latin nominative barō.

Noun

baron oblique singular, m (oblique plural barons, nominative singular ber, nominative plural baron)

1. baron (title of nobility)
2. husband

   Synonym: mari

Alternative forms

• varon

Etymology

Inherited from Latin barōnem.

Noun

baron m (plural barõess)

1. man (adult male human)

   Synonym: home

   • 13th c, A. López Ferreiro, editor, Fueros Municipales de Santiago y de su tierra, page 699:

     aquel pecado escumungado que fazen os barones unos con outros

     that excommunicated sin that men do with one another

   • c. 1295, Ramón Lorenzo, editor, La traducción gallega de la Crónica General y de la Crónica de Castilla, Ourense: I.E.O.P.F, page 814:

     ca esta (he) muy boa et nobre rreyna dona Berĩguela co[m] tamana aguça gardou sempre este fillo et llj meteu no curaçõ feyto de obras de piedade de ome barõ, mãçebo et nino, et todo linagẽ de omes -esto he barõ et moller-

     because this very noble and excellent queen, Lady Berenguela, with great care protected her son and put in his heart acts of piety of adult man, young man and boy, and of all the lineage of men - that is, man and woman -

Further reading

• Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo (2006–2022) “baron”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “baron”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega

Alternative forms

• varon

Etymology

Inherited from Latin barōnem. Sense 3 taken from the Old French cognate baron. Coromines considers the more general sense 2, which is attested earlier, to be indigenous.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /baˈɾon/

Noun

baron m

1. man
   • c. 1200, La Fazienda de Ultramar, fol 6r

     Los de ysmael vendieron a ioseph a furtifar el egypcio de pharaon conestable. en essa ora, exio iuda asos ermanos e vna mugier, fija de un baron de Canaan

     The people of Ishmael sold Joseph to Potiphar the Egyptian Pharaoh's Constable. At that time, Juda departed to his brothers and a woman, the daughter of a man of Canaan.

2. nobleman
3. baron

References

• Joan Coromines, José A[ntonio] Pascual (1984) “barón”, in Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico [Critic Castilian and Hispanic Etymological Dictionary] (in Spanish), volume I (A–Ca), Madrid: Gredos, →ISBN, page 514

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈba.rɔn/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -arɔn
• Syllabification: ba‧ron

Etymology 1

Borrowed from French baron.

Etymology 2

See baran.

Further reading

• baron in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• baron in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• Aleksander Saloni (1899) “baron”, in “Lud wiejski w okolicy Przeworska”, in M. Arct, E. Lubowski, editors, Wisła : miesięcznik gieograficzno-etnograficzny (in Polish), volume 13, Warsaw: Artur Gruszecki, page 237

Etymology

Borrowed from French baron.

Noun

baron m (plural baroni)

1. baron

Etymology

Derived from Old French baron.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bǎroːn/
• Hyphenation: ba‧ron

Noun

bàrōn m (Cyrillic spelling ба̀ро̄н)

1. baron (title of nobility)

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French baron.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

baron c (feminine: baronessa)

1. a baron, a ruler of a barony

Further reading

• baron in Svenska Akademiens ordböcker
• baron in Elof Hellquist, Svensk etymologisk ordbok (1st ed., 1922)

Anagrams

• banor, bonar, borna, nabor

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish barón.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /baˈɾon/ [bɐˈɾon̪]
• Rhymes: -on
• Syllabification: ba‧ron

Noun

barón (Baybayin spelling ᜊᜇᜓᜈ᜔)

1. baron (title of nobility)