What does bisson mean?
Bisson is an archaic English adjective meaning blind or dim-sighted, describing eyes that lack clear vision. It survives today only as a literary curiosity, best known from its single famous appearance in Shakespeare's Hamlet, where it occurs in the phrase 'bisson rheum' to describe tears blurring the eyes so completely that they cannot see. The word derives from Old French, in which it carried much the same meaning, but it fell out of everyday English use centuries ago and was never widely adopted even when current. Modern readers encountering bisson will do so almost exclusively in annotated editions of early modern drama or in scholarly discussion of Shakespeare's language, where it serves as a compact example of how richly supplied with near-synonyms the Elizabethan vocabulary could be. Because it is obsolete, writers should treat bisson as a quotation-word rather than living vocabulary: effective in period pastiche or allusion to Hamlet, but out of place in contemporary prose.
adjectiveBlind or dim-sighted; lacking clear sight. An archaic and chiefly literary word, now used only in historical or deliberately antiquarian contexts.
- Archaic: blind, or having dim or impaired sight.
"The old king, bisson with age, relied on his steward to describe the pageantry he could no longer see."
"His bisson gaze passed over the letter without reading a single line."
"Hamlet speaks of 'bisson rheum' streaming down Gertrude's face as she confronts her own guilt."
When Shakespeare wanted a word for eyes too clouded to weep properly, he reached for 'bisson' — the blind word hiding inside one of literature's most famous plays.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of bisson
Bisson entered English from Old French bisson, which meant blind or purblind, borrowed during the medieval or early modern period. The French word's further origins are uncertain, though it has been connected by some etymologists to related Romance forms. It never became common in English, and its survival owes everything to Shakespeare's use of 'bisson rheum' in Hamlet, which kept the word alive in commentary long after it dropped from speech.
How bisson is actually used
Bisson is thoroughly archaic and appears almost exclusively in Shakespearean texts, glosses, and literary criticism. It carries no connotation beyond its literal sense of blindness and should not be used in ordinary modern prose except for deliberate archaic effect.
Easily confused with bisson
A bison is a large shaggy-horned mammal of the genus Bison, while 'bisson' is an archaic adjective meaning blind.