Etymology

From Medieval Latin baccalārius which became Old French bacheler then bachelier, with the original sense of "noble young man who wants to become a knight", then "noble young man", thereafter "student in the first university degree". Late Latin baccalaris is given of obscure origin, probably Celtic and cognate with Old Irish bachlach ‎(“servant”), in Catalonia, baccalarii were members of an intermediate class between knights and peasants, in Provence, the sense was "[free] peasant without a tenure".

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /baʃɛlje/