The Bull in a Financial Market Is a Different Bull
A bull is a male of cattle. Two other bulls, a papal decree and a market trend, come from elsewhere.
A bull is an uncastrated male of cattle. Three senses share the spelling. The animal is Old Norse. A papal *bull* is unrelated, from Latin *bulla*, the lead seal attached to the document. The stock market *bull* probably is related to the animal: a bull tosses its horns upward, a bear swipes downward, giving rising and falling markets their names. *Bull in a china shop* dates from the 1830s.
- A male of cattle. *A bull.*
- A rising market. *A bull market.*
- A papal decree. *A papal bull.*
- Bull in a china shop — clumsy. *A bull in a china shop.*
- Old Norse — *boli*. *The animal.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | bull | A bull. |
| Plural | bulls | Bulls. |
| Adjective | bullish | Bullish. |
| Opposite | bear | A bear market. |
| Latin | bulla | A seal. |
- The bull grazed in the field.Animal.
- Shares entered a bull market.Finance.
- The pope issued a bull.Church.
Bulls and bears
- A bull tosses upward with its horns, so prices rise
- A bear swipes downward with its paw, so prices fall
- Bearish came first, from a proverb about selling a bearskin early
- Bullish was coined as its opposite
- Bull market and bear market are now standard everywhere
Old Norse *boli*, a bull. The papal document is Latin *bulla*, a seal. The market sense is from the 1700s.
Why are rising markets called bull markets?
From the way a bull tosses its horns upward, opposed to a bear swiping downward.
Is a papal bull related to the animal?
No. It comes from Latin bulla, the lead seal attached to the document.