bu·reau / ˈbyoŏrō/ • n. (pl. bu·reaus or bu·reaux / ˈbyoŏrōz/ ) 1. a chest of drawers.2. (abbr.: bur.) an office or department for transacting particular business: a news bureau. ∎  the office in a particular place of an organization based elsewhere: the London bureau of the Washington Post. ∎  a government department: the intelligence bureau.ORIGIN: late 17th cent.: from French, originally ‘baize’ (used to cover writing desks), from Old French burel, probably from bure ‘dark brown,’.

bureau writing-desk with drawers; office. XVII. — F. bureau orig. woollen stuff, baize, used for covering writing-desks.
So bureaucracy XIX.