Boots

How to spell boots

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce boots

What does boots mean?

1. nounSturdy items of footwear that cover the foot and often the ankle or lower leg.
2. verbStarts up a computer or device, loading its operating system.

Boots in a sentence

• noun

  She laced up her hiking boots before the long climb.

• verb

  The old laptop boots slowly every morning.

• noun

  The muddy field ruined a good pair of leather boots.

• verb

  Once the server boots, the team can log in.

Where does boots come from?

Language of origin: French

This word is the plural of 'boot', which English took from the Old French 'bote' in the 1300s, a term for a sturdy covering for the foot and lower leg. The Old French form itself is of uncertain earlier origin, possibly Germanic, and there is no settled agreement on its ultimate source. In its first English use it referred specifically to riding footwear made of leather, only later widening to any high or heavy shoe. The same noun later spawned the verb 'to boot', meaning to kick, and in the twentieth century the computing sense of starting a machine, shortened from 'bootstrap'. The plain spelling, with its double 'o' and final 's', rarely troubles writers, which keeps it among the easiest entries.

How the word is built

• boot (from Old French bote, a covering for the foot and leg)
• -s (plural / third-person verb suffix)