From French 'baguette' (little rod), from Latin 'baculum' (stick) — kin to 'baton,' 'bacillus,' and even 'imbecile' (without a walking stick).
A long, narrow French loaf of bread with a crisp crust.
From French 'baguette' (rod, stick, wand), from Italian 'bacchetta,' diminutive of 'bacchio' (rod, pole), from Latin 'baculum' (staff, walking stick), from PIE *bak- ('staff, peg'). The bread sense arose in French by the early 20th century, referring to the long, thin loaf's resemblance to a rod or stick. The word's journey from a PIE root meaning
'Baguette,' 'baton,' 'bacillus,' 'bacteria,' and 'imbecile' all come from Latin 'baculum' (stick). A baguette is a bread-stick. A baton is a conducting-stick. A bacillus is a rod-shaped bacterium (little stick). And 'imbecile' originally meant 'without a stick' (in- + baculum) — someone so weak they can