bichon

Borrowed from French bichon. Doublet of bitch.

• IPA^(key): /biʃɔn/

bichon (plural bichons)

1. Any of a class of toy dogs with curly or wavy hair and long curled tails.
2. (especially Canada, US) A Bichon Frisé.

• shichon

• Bichon Frisé
• Bolognese
• Bolonka
• Coton de Tulear
• Havanese
• Löwchen
• Maltese

• bichon on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

From Middle French bichon (“small long-haired dog”), from Old French biche (“bitch, female dog”), from Old English biċċe (“female dog”), from Proto-Germanic *bikjǭ (“female dog, bitch”). Cognate with Old Norse bikkja (“female dog”), German Betze (“female dog”). More at bitch.

Alternative etymology derives through clipping of barbichon (“small poodle”), a diminutive of barbiche (“shaggy dog”), however, chronology makes this derivation improbable if not impossible, as bichon is attested since 1588, yet barbichon does not appear until 1694.

• IPA^(key): /bi.ʃɔ̃/

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bichon m (plural bichons, feminine bichonne)

1. bichon
2. lapdog

• bichon à poil frisé
• bichon maltais
• bichonner

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