"B" Word Origins

brewhouse

Origin

From Middle English brewhous, brouhous, brewehous, equivalent to brew + house. Compare Dutch brouwhuis (“brewhouse”).

brewing

Origin

The noun form of "brew" plus "-ing", covering both the literal craft of making beer and the figurative sense of tension building.

brewis

Origin

Old French broez, brouez, brouets plural of broet, brouet (French brouet ‘gruel’), from breu, from *brodittum, a diminutive of vulgar Latin *brodum, from Germanic *brod ‘sauce’ (English broth).

brewmaster

Origin

From brew + master, a calque of German Braumeister.

brewster

Middle English

From Middle English breowestre, a feminine agent form of "brew" using the old "-ster" ending once reserved for women's occupations.

Brexit

Greek · 2012

A blend of "Britain" and "exit", coined in 2012 by analogy with the earlier term "Grexit" (a hypothetical Greek exit from the eurozone).

Brezhnev

Russian

Borrowed from Russian Бре́жнев (Bréžnev).

Brian

Irish

Borrowed from the Irish name Brian, of uncertain deeper origin, possibly related to a word for "high" or "noble."

brianne

Origin

A feminine form of Brian, taken to regular use in the 1970s.

briar

Old English

From Old English brēr/brǣr, "briar, bramble" — a word whose deeper origins are uncertain, though it may be related to an old term for heather.

bribe

Old French

From Old French briber, "to beg", originally describing money given to a beggar — the meaning later shifted to a corrupt payment for favors.

bribery

Old French

From bribe plus the suffix -ery, going back through Old French to a root meaning "to beg" or "to steal".

brick

Middle English

From late Middle English brik/bryke, borrowed from Middle Dutch and Middle Low German words for a broken tile or slab, ultimately linked to "break" — a brick was originally thought of as a shaped, broken-off piece.

brickbatting

Origin

From brickbat (noun) + -ing.

brickhead

Origin

From brick + head.

bricklayer

Origin

A straightforward compound of brick and layer — someone who lays bricks.

bricole

Origin

From French bricole, from Late Latin briccola, bricola, of uncertain origin.

bridal

Old English

From Old English brydealo, literally "bride-ale" — the wedding feast at which ale was drunk — later reshaped to look like "bride" plus "-al".

bride

Old English

From Old English brȳd, an ancient Germanic word for "bride" found in close relatives across nearly every Germanic language, including German Braut and Dutch bruid.

bridegroom

Old English

From Old English brydguma, literally "bride's man". The original second element, guma ("man"), died out of the language and was later reshaped by folk etymology into "groom".

bridelock

Origin

From Middle English brudlak, brudlac (“nuptuals”), from Old English brȳdlāc (“bridal, wedded condition, marriage ceremony”). By surface analysis, bride + -lock.

bridesmaid

Origin

A compound of bride and maid. The figurative "always second place" sense comes from the saying "always a bridesmaid, never a bride".

bridewell

Origin

From Bridewell (named after a well dedicated to St Bride), an area of London that once had a "house of correction".

bridey

Origin

Formed from "bride" plus the adjective-forming suffix "-y", on the same pattern as "dreamy" from "dream".

bridge

Old English

From Old English brycg, itself from a much older Germanic root meaning a wooden walkway or plank crossing — related to German Brücke and Dutch brug.

bridgehead

Origin

Calque of French tête de pont, equivalent to bridge + head.

Bridgeport

Origin

By surface analysis, from bridge plus port.

bridger

Origin

Formed from "bridge" plus the agent suffix "-er", the same pattern that turns "teach" into "teacher".

Bridget

Irish

The English form of the Irish saints' name Brighid, ultimately linked to a Celtic goddess of the same name.

Bridgette

Origin

Variant of Bridget. See -ette.

bridgework

Origin

From bridge + -work.

bridie

Origin

Origin uncertain — possibly from "bride" plus "-ie", from a tradition of serving the pastry at weddings, though it may instead come from a baker's surname.

bridle

Old English

From Old English brīdel, an old Germanic word for a strap or rein, related to the verb "braid".

brie

Origin

Named after Brie, the region of northern France where the cheese originated.

brief

Latin

From Old French brief, ultimately from Latin brevis ("short") — the same root that gives us "abbreviate" and "brevity".

briefcase

Origin

A compound of brief (in the old sense of legal or business papers) and case.

briefer

Origin

From brief (verb) + -er (agent noun suffix).

briefing

Origin

From brief plus the suffix -ing.

briefly

Origin

From brief plus the adverb-forming suffix -ly.

briefness

Origin

From Middle English breffnes, brevenesse, equivalent to brief + -ness.

brifka

Origin

Yiddish בריווקע (brivke, “little letter”), a diminutive of Yiddish בריוו (briv), meaning a (postal) letter. Brifka is thus a "little letter". In turn derived from Old High German briaf, which is borrowed from Latin breve, a neuter form of Latin brevis (“short”). Cognates include Middle Dutch, Middle High German brief, and Dutch brief, Old Norse bréf, Old Saxon brēf (all of them borrowed from Latin) and English brief.

brig

Italian

A shortening of "brigantine", itself from Italian brigantino. The "jail" sense developed because old brigs were sometimes used to hold prisoners.

brigade

French

Borrowed from French brigade, ultimately from Italian brigata, related to briga ("strife, trouble").

brigadier

Origin

Borrowed from French brigadier. Equivalent to brigade + -ier.

brigand

Old French

From Old French brigand ("foot soldier"), from Italian briga ("trouble, strife").

Briggs

Middle English

From the genitive or plural form of Middle English brigge ("bridge").

Brigham

Old English

From Old English brycg ("bridge") plus hām ("homestead"), meaning "homestead by the bridge."

bright

Old English

From Old English beorht/bryht, an ancient Germanic word meaning "to gleam or shine", related to words for "dawn" in Lithuanian and Russian.