boatswain

English

/ˈbəʊ.sən/, /ˈbəʊt.sweɪn/, /ˈboʊ.sən/

noun
Definitions
  • The officer (or warrant officer) in charge of sails, rigging, anchors, cables etc. and all work on deck of a sailing ship.
  • The petty officer of a merchant ship who controls the work of other seamen.
  • A kind of gull, the jaeger.
  • The tropicbird.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English botswain inherited from Old English bātsweġen, bāt (boat, vessel, food, that which can be bitten, bait, ship) + Old Norse sveinn (boy)com from English boat + English swain (boy, servant, rural male lover).

Origin

English

swain

Gloss

boy, servant, rural male lover

Concept
Semantic Field

Kinship

Ontological Category

Person/Thing

Emoji
👨‍👦 👨‍👦‍👦 👨‍👧‍👦 👨‍👨‍👦 👨‍👨‍👦‍👦 👨‍👨‍👧‍👦 👨‍👩‍👦 👨‍👩‍👦‍👦 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 👩‍👦 👩‍👦‍👦 👩‍👧‍👦 👩‍👩‍👦 👩‍👩‍👦‍👦 👩‍👩‍👧‍👦 👪️ 💏

Timeline

Distribution of cognates by language

Geogrpahic distribution of cognates

Cognates and derived terms