Part of Speech: adjective
Pronunciation: [byu-'ka-lik]
Definition: Characteristic of flocks or herds; rustic, rural, pastoral.
Usage: A bucolic landscape has the same effect as a pillow and a warm fire in winter: "Thornton dreamed of himself and his lovely friend, Wanda, on a bucolic picnic under an ancient oak spreading halfway across a meadow intersected by a giggling brook." The thought of this word itself reduces tension and relaxes the thinker, "Holcombe filled his apartment with bucolic pictures of the Virginia countryside to absorb the stress he brought with him from the office."
Suggested Usage: Today's word reeks of romance, of bright, tranquil summer days in the countryside, away from the rush and rumble of the city. The noun is "bucolicism" but is rarely used.
Etymology: Latin bucolicus "pastoral," borrowed from Greek boukolikos, the adjective of the compound noun boukolos "cowherd," based on bous "cow" + kolos "herdsman." "Kolos" comes from the Proto-Indo-European root *kwel- "round, circle, rotate, dwell," which also gave us "colony" and "cultivate." Reduplicated (*kwe-kwlo) it became "circle" from Greek kyklos "circle." Old English "hweogol," which descended to us as "wheel, is a direct descendant." Sanskrit chakram "wheel" comes from the same source and came through Hindi into English as chukker "period of play in polo" and "chakra," one of the seven centers of spiritual energy according to the teachings of yoga. Kolo, kolesa "wheel" in several Slavic languages (e.g. Russian) shares the same origin.
bucolic \byoo-KOL-ik\
adjective:1. Relating to or typical of the countryside or its people; rustic.2. Of or pertaining to the life and occupation of a shepherd; pastoral.
noun:1. A pastoral poem, depicting rural affairs, and the life, manners, and occupation of shepherds.2. A country person.
What Ms. Morris appreciates most now is the mix of bucolic and urban: She can descend into the subway and roam the city, then spend hours in the botanic garden and "walk quietly home to check my tomato plants."-- Janny Scott, "The Brownstone Storytellers", New York Times, May 15, 1995
In 1901 the Pittsburgh Leader focused on the more bucolic qualities of Springdale, noting "considerable acreage of woods and farm land, picturesque streets . . . and pretty little frame dwellings set amidst overhanging apple trees and maples."-- Linda Lear, Rachel Carson: Witness for Nature
St. Paul's was a private Episcopal boys' school outside of Concord, New Hampshire, sixty miles from Windsor, in the middle of a wooded, secluded, bucolic nowhere.-- Ken Gormley, Archibald Cox: Conscience of a Nation
bucolic \byoo-KAH-lik\ adjective
1 : of or relating to shepherds or herdsmen : pastoral
*2 : relating to or typical of rural life
Example sentence: While sitting in rush hour traffic, Cecilia often daydreamed about living in a little house in a quiet, bucolic setting.
Did you know? We get "bucolic" from the Latin word "bucolicus," which is ultimately from the Greek word "boukolos," meaning "cowherd." When "bucolic" was first used in English in the early 17th century, it meant "pastoral" in a narrow sense — that is, it referred to things related to shepherds or herdsmen and in particular to pastoral poetry. Later in the 19th century, it was applied more broadly to things rural or rustic. "Bucolic" has also been occasionally used as a noun meaning "a pastoral poem" or "a bucolic person."
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
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