bureaux

Bureaux is the plural form of bureau in French, and it is also used in English when referring to French terminology or in bilingual contexts. In French, bureau has multiple meanings: it can denote a desk, an office or workplace, and a government or organizational department. Accordingly, bureaux can refer to desks or to offices, and the term appears in compound phrases such as bureau de poste (post office) or bureau d'études (design office). In public administration, a bureau may denote a subunit within a ministry or agency, though contemporary usage often favors terms like ministère or service for the largest units.

In English, bureau is borrowed from French and most commonly refers to an office or government/organizational agency. The standard plural forms are bureaus and bureaux, with bureaus more common in American English and bureaux more common in British English or in formal, international, or French-influenced contexts. The word also exists in a furniture sense: a bureau is a desk, typically a piece of furniture with drawers; in this sense, the plural desks would be used in English.

Bureaux may appear in English when referring to French-language institutions, in bilingual texts, or in the official names of international bodies that preserve the French spelling to reflect origin. See also Bureau (furniture) and Bureaucracy.