book
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: bo͝ok
ipa: /bʊk/
enpr: bo͞ok
note: some speakers from Northern England and Ireland
ipa: /buːk/
ipa: /bʉk/
homophone: buck (without the foot-strut split, when pronounced /bʊk/)
rhymes: -ʊk
Forms: form: books
form: boke
form: booke
Etymology: Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂ǵosder.?
Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂g-der.?
Proto-Germanic *bōks
Proto-West Germanic *bōk
Old English bōc
Middle English bok
English book
From Middle English bok, book, from Old English bōc, from Proto-West Germanic *bōk, from Proto-Germanic *bōks. Bookmaker sense by clipping.
Cognates
Cognate with Scots beuk, buik, buke (“book”), Yola buke (“book”), North Frisian Bok, buk, bök (“book”), Saterland Frisian Bouk (“book”), West Frisian, Dutch boek (“book”), Alemannic German Buech (“book”), Bavarian Buach (“book”), Central Franconian Booch, Buch (“book”), German, Luxembourgish Buch (“book”), German Low German Book (“book”), Limburgish book, Bouk (“book”), Vilamovian büch (“book”), Yiddish בוך (bukh, “book”), Danish bog (“book”), Elfdalian buok (“book”), Faroese, Icelandic bók (“book”), Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish bok (“book”).
Senses: examples: text: Knowing I lou'd my bookes, he furniſhd me / From mine owne Library, with volumes, that / I prize aboue my Dukedome.
ref: 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], page 3, column 1:
text: I repeat: it suffices that a book be possible for it to exist. Only the impossible is excluded. For example: no book can be a ladder, although no doubt there are books which discuss and negate and demonstrate this possibility and others whose structure corresponds to that of a ladder.
ref: 1962, Luis Borges, translated by James East Irby, The Library of Babel:
text: I can be anything.
Take a look!
It's in a book:
A reading rainbow.
ref: 1983, Steve Horelick et al., Reading Rainbow:
text: Trefusis's quarters could be described in one word. Books. Books and books and books. And then, just when an observer might be lured into thinking that that must be it, more books... Trefusis himself was highly dismissive of them. ‘Waste of trees,’ he had once said. ‘Stupid, ugly, clumsy, heavy things. The sooner technology comes up with a reliable alternative the better... The world is so fond of saying that books should be “treated with respect”. But when are we told that words should be treated with respect?’
ref: 1991, Stephen Fry, The Liar, page 51:
text: She opened the book to page 37 and began to read aloud.
text: He was frustrated because he couldn't find anything about dinosaurs in the book.
glosses: A collection of sheets of paper bound together to hinge at one edge, containing printed or written material, pictures, etc.
examples: text: I have three copies of his first book.
text: “I would never read a book,” he once told an interviewer. “I don’t want to say no book is ever worth reading, but I actually do believe something pretty close to that.”
ref: 2022 December 6, Stephen Marche, quoting Sam Bankman-Fried, “The College Essay Is Dead”, in The Atlantic:
text: They read some books
Sharing their moods
They know everything
Whatever it can mean
ref: 2025 July 19, Pacifik, “Freethinker”, in Wonderfool, performed by Pacifik:
glosses: A long work fit for publication, typically prose, such as a novel or textbook, and typically published as such a bound collection of sheets, but now sometimes electronically as an e-book.
examples: text: Genesis is the first book of the Bible.
text: Many readers find the first book of A Tale of Two Cities to be confusing.
synonyms: tome
volume
glosses: A major division of a long work.
examples: text: I'm running a book on who is going to win the race.
topics: gambling
games
glosses: A record of betting (from the use of a notebook to record what each person has bet).
glosses: A bookmaker (a person who takes bets on sporting events and similar); bookie; turf accountant.
examples: text: a book of stamps
text: a book of raffle tickets
text: a book of matches (matchbook)
synonyms: booklet
glosses: A convenient collection, in a form resembling a book, of small paper items for individual use.
examples: text: The guild helps ensure that the ownership and control of the music, lyrics, and book of a show remain in the hands of its authors and composers—not the producers.
ref: 2010, David Baskerville, Tim Baskerville, Music Business Handbook and Career Guide, page 172:
topics: entertainment
lifestyle
theater
synonyms: libretto
glosses: The script of a musical or opera.
synonyms: account
record
glosses: Records of the accounts of a business.
topics: law
glosses: A book award, a recognition for receiving the highest grade in a class (traditionally an actual book, but recently more likely a letter or certificate acknowledging the achievement).
glosses: Six tricks taken by one side.
topics: card-games
poker
glosses: Four of a kind.
topics: hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: A document, held by the referee, of the incidents that happened in a game.
examples: text: Celtic captain Scott Brown joined team-mate Majstorovic in the book and Rangers' John Fleck was also shown a yellow card as an ill-tempered half drew to a close.
ref: 2011 March 2, Andy Campbell, “Celtic 1 - 0 Rangers”, in BBC:
topics: hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: A list of all players who have been booked (received a warning) in a game.
topics: hobbies
horse-racing
horseracing
horses
lifestyle
pets
racing
sports
glosses: The list of mares that a stallion will breed in a given season.
topics: hobbies
horse-racing
horseracing
horses
lifestyle
pets
racing
sports
glosses: A list of the races that a jockey is scheduled to ride in.
topics: cartomancy
human-sciences
mysticism
philosophy
sciences
glosses: The twenty-sixth Lenormand card.
glosses: Any source of instruction.
examples: text: The Book is an oral tradition of belief in The Life that has been passed down from player to player from generation to generation.
ref: 1974, Adrienne Lanier Seward, The Black Pimp as a Folk Hero, page 11:
text: On the other hand The Book is an oral tradition containing the rules and principles to be adopted by a pimp who wishes to be a player.
ref: 1994, Antiquarian Book Monthly, volume 21, page 36:
glosses: The accumulated body of knowledge passed down among black pimps.
examples: text: Getting your book (portfolio) organised is the first step, and knowing both what to include, and what to leave out, is an essential step towards achieving that important agency placement.
ref: 2017, Nik Mahon, Basics Advertising 02: Art Direction, page 8:
text: Your portfolio — your book — has to be killer.
ref: Idea Industry (page 27)
topics: advertising
business
marketing
glosses: A portfolio of one's previous work in the industry.
examples: text: The opposite-colored bishops endgame is usually a book draw.
text: A book move
text: out of book
text: White to move and win. How can he do it? The BK plans a march to h8, eating the f4 pawn en route, for a book draw.
ref: 2018 April 6, Leonard Barden, “Chess: Schoolboy Vincent Keymer secures shock triumph at Grenke Open”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 12 Jan 2023:
text: This seems certain to simplify into a battle between White's king, rook and two pawns against Black's king and rook. In some cases a book draw is possible. But a book win is more likely.
ref: 2020, Andrew Soltis, How to Swindle in Chess, Batsford Books, →ISBN:
topics: board-games
chess
games
glosses: The sum of chess knowledge in the opening or endgame.
examples: text: This machinery was provided with a rotary drum with received upon its periphery the "books" of silk to be operated upon and presented them to travelling, combing, or dressing surfaces. The books were clamped and released automatically by the aid of bars formed with wedges and put in operation by screws […]
ref: 1867, John I. Knight, Mechanics Magazine (page 52)
glosses: A package of silk.
Synonyms: word: book
Hypernyms: word: publication
word: writing
Hyponyms: word: address book
word: anthology
word: autobiography
word: biography
word: burn book
word: casebook
word: cashbook
word: checkbook
word: chequebook
word: cheque book
word: closed book
word: codex
word: coffee table book
word: coffee-table book
word: comic book
word: cookbook
word: cookery book
word: copybook
word: coursebook
word: dictionary
word: duodecimo
word: exercise book
word: folio
word: fuck book
word: grimoire
word: guest book
word: guidebook
word: handbook
word: hardback
word: hymn book
word: lexicon
word: logbook
word: monograph
word: notebook
word: novel
word: octavo
word: octodecimo
word: onomasticon
word: paperback
word: passbook
word: pension book
word: phrasebook
word: pocketbook
word: prayer book
word: quadragesimo-octavo
word: quarto
word: record book
word: reference book
word: rough book
word: sexagesimo-quarto
word: sexto
word: sextodecimo
word: runbook
word: scrapbook
word: sketch book
word: spellbook
word: songbook
word: storybook
word: tome
word: trigesimo-secundo
word: vicesimo-quarto
word: visitors' book
word: volume
word: wordbook
word: workbook
word: yearbook
Meronyms: word: binding
word: cover
word: endpaper
word: front page
word: leaf
word: page
word: front matter
word: body matter
word: back matter
word: article
word: chapter
word: entry
word: module
word: part
word: section
word: unit
word: clause
word: paragraph
word: passage
word: head
word: verse
Derived terms: ABC book
absey book
absey-book
account book
activity book
address book
airport book
alphabet book
American comic book
antibook
artbook
audio book
audio-book
audiobook
autograph book
baby book
back of the book
bankbook
bath book
beach book
birthday book
block book
blook
blot one's copy book
blue book
bluebook
blue book exam
board book
book account
book agent
bookaholic
bookalike
book-answerer
book award
bookazine
book bag
book-bearer
book bin
bookbinder
bookbindery
bookbinding
bookboard
book-bosomed
book-bound
book-boy
bookbuild
book-building
book-burner
book-burning
book burning
bookbus
book canvasser
bookcase
bookception
bookchest
book-cloth
book club
book concern
book-crab
bookcraft
book credit
bookcross
book deal
bookdealer
book-debt
book debt
book discussion group
bookdom
book drop
book dumping
book-edge gilder
book-edge marbler
bookend
book end
book-end
book entry
booker
bookery
booketeria
book fair
book-farmer
bookfell
bookflap
book folder
book form
bookful
book-ghoul
book gill
book group
book hand
bookhoard
book-holder
bookholder
bookhood
bookhound
bookhouse
book-hunt
bookhunter
bookie
bookish
bookism
bookist
bookjacket
book-keep
bookkeeper
book-keeper
book keeping
bookkeeping
book-keeping
book-knowledge
book knowledge
book label
Bookland
bookland
book-lare
book law
book-lear
book-learned
book-learning
book learning
booklegger
booklegging
book-length
bookless
booklet
booklift
booklight
booklike
booklined
bookling
booklist
book-lore
book lore
booklore
booklouse
booklover
book lover
Booklr
book-lung
book lung
bookly
bookmaker
bookmaking
bookman
bookmark
bookmarker
book-match
bookmatch
bookmate
book-minded
book-mindedness
book mite
bookmobile
bookmonger
book muslin
bookname
booknap
bookness
book nook
book number
book-number
book oath
book of business
Book of Concord
book of condolence
book of first entry
Book of God
book of hours
book of lading
Book of Life
book of nature
book of original entry
book of prime entry
book of rates
book of reference
book of shadows
Book of the Dead
book of the film
Book of the Living
book of words
book packet
book piles
bookplate
book pocket
book post
book postage
bookpress
book price
book prop
bookrack
book rate
book-read
book-reader
book-reading
book reading
book report
bookrest
book return
book-ridden
bookright
bookroll
bookroom
bookrunner
bookrunning
book sales club
bookscape
book scorpion
book-scorpion
bookseller
bookselling
bookshelf
bookshelving
bookshop
book shop
book-shy
booksie
book-signing
book signing
book-slide
book-smart
book smart
book society
booksona
bookstack
bookstaff
Bookstagram
bookstall
book stamp
book-stamp
bookstand
bookstave
book steak
bookstop
book store
bookstore
book stuffing
book support
booksy
book table
book-table
book talk
booktastic
book-teaching
Bookternet
BookTok
book token
book-token
book tour
book town
book trade
book-tray
book trough
BookTube
booktuber
book type
book value
bookwards
bookware
book-ways
bookwheel
book-wise
bookwise
book word
book-word
bookwork
book world
bookworm
book worm
bookwright
book-wright
bookwriting
booky
brag book
brand book
Bread Book
bring to book
burn book
busy book
by-book
by the book
by-the-book
callbook
call someone every name in the book
casebook
case-book
case book
cashbook
chapter book
chartbook
checkbook
cheque book
chequebook
classbook
clipbook
closed-book
closed book
close the book on
close the books
codebook
coffee table book
coffee-table book
coloring book
colouring book
comic book
commonplace-book
commonplace book
composition book
cook book
cookbook
cookery book
cook the books
copybook
cost-book
coursebook
courtesy book
crack a book
crossover book
cyberbook
databook
datebook
daybook
day book
deathbook
death book
deskbook
don't judge a book by its cover
dope book
Dutch book
eBook
e-book
ebook
e-book reader
edited book
electronic book
emblem book
emblem-book
every trick in the book
exercise book
facebook
factbook
fairybook
fake book
field book
field-book
flick book
flip book
flybook
forebook
form book
formbook
for the book
friendship book
fuck book
funny book
gamebook
giftbook
Good Book
good book
green book
guard book
guest book
guidebook
guide book
handbook
have more chins than a Chinese phone book
herdbook
history book
hold the book
hollow book
holobook
Holy Book
hornbook
hymn-book
hymn book
hymnbook
hyperbook
in anyone's book
in book
in my book
in one's book
in someone's bad books
in someone's good books
in the books
jestbook
Jo-Jo book
joke book
judge a book by its cover
keep the book
kiss the book
know every trick in the book
know like a book
landbook
lawbook
letterbook
little black book
log book
log-book
logbook
look book
lookbook
look-out book
mag book
make a book
make book
matchbook
megabook
midbook
mook
mug book
multibook
murder book
muster-book
namebook
needlebook
never judge a book by its cover
newsbook
nonbook
note book
notebook
off book
off-book
off the books
on book
on the book
on the books
open book
open-book
open-book contract
open book decomposition
opening book
order book
outbook
out-book
outclearing book
out of book
paper book
passbook
pattern book
paybook
pension book
phonebook
phone book
photobook
phrase book
phrasebook
phrase-book
picture book
pillowbook
pitchbook
playbook
pocket book
pocket-book
pocketbook
poison book
poll book
pop-up book
prayer book
prebook
promptbook
psalmbook
quizbook
quotebook
racebook
rag book
ration book
reading book
read like a book
read like an open book
recipe book
record book
red book
reference book
regie-book
rhyme book
rime book
rip a page out of someone's book
roadbook
rough-book
rough book
rule book
rule-book
rulebook
run book
runbook
rune book
said-bookism
salesbook
schoolbook
school book
scientibook
scorebook
scrap book
scrapbook
scriptbook
service book
set book
shopbook
sketchbook
sketch book
skybook
slam book
slambook
songbook
song book
sourcebook
speak like a book
spellbook
splatbook
splat book
sportsbook
squawk book
statute book
sticker book
stockbook
storybook
stroke book
stud-book
stud book
stylebook
suit one's book
tablebook
take a leaf out of someone's book
take a page out of someone's book
tale-book
talebook
talking book
talk like a book
telephone book
text-book
textbook
the oldest trick in the book
this is a book
throw the book at
Tillie and Mac book
time-book
time book
timebook
toilet book
trade book
travel book
truth book
tunebook
tunnel book
turnip for the book
turn-up for the book
turn up for the book
ultrabook
videobook
viewbook
visitors' book
visitor's book
vook
wastebook
webbook
why buy a book when you can join a library
why buy a book when you can join the library
winter book
wishbook
without book
Wizard Book
wordbook
workbook
write the book
yardage book
yearbook
year-book
you can't judge a book by its cover
you can't tell a book by its cover
Related terms: word: incunable
word: scroll
word: tome
word: volume
word: 📚
word: document
word: text
word: manuscript