brad

Etymology

Late Middle English brad, variant of brod(d), from Old Norse broddr (“spike, shaft”), from Proto-Germanic *bruzdaz (compare Old English brord, Old High German brort), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrusdʰos (compare Welsh brath (“sting, prick”), Albanian bredh (“fir-tree”), Lithuanian bruzdùklis (“bridle”), Czech brzda (“brake”). Doublet of prod.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /bɹad/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American, Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /bɹæd/
• Rhymes: -æd

Noun

brad (plural brads)

1. A thin, small nail, with a slight projection at the top on one side instead of a head, or occasionally with a small domed head, similar to that of an escutcheon pin.
   • 1936, Djuna Barnes, Nightwood, Faber & Faber, published 2007, page 5:

     Into the middle arch of each desk silver-headed brads had been hammered to form a lion, a bear, a ram, a dove, and in the midst a flaming torch.

2. (US, elementary school usage) A paper fastener, a fastening device formed of thin, soft metal, such as shim brass, with a round head and a flat, split shank, which is spread after insertion in a hole in a stack of pages, in much the same way as a cotter pin or a split rivet.

Verb

brad (third-person singular simple present brads, present participle bradding, simple past and past participle bradded)

1. (transitive) To attach using a brad.
2. (transitive) To upset the end of a rod inserted in a hole so as to prevent it from being pulled out, as when riveting.

Anagrams

• Bard, darb, bard, drab, BARD

Etymology

Possibly borrowed from Old Albanian *bradh (modern bredh), or alternatively a substrate cognate of it, and ultimately from an Indo-European source either way (a borrowing directly from modern Albanian would have presumably produced a form *brez).

Noun

brad m (plural bradz)

1. fir tree

Alternative forms

• broad (West Central Bavarian, South Central Bavarian)
• broat (Tyrol)

Etymology

From Middle High German breit, from Old High German breit, from Proto-West Germanic *braid, from Proto-Germanic *braidaz. Cognates include German breit, Yiddish ברייט (breyt), Dutch breed, Old Norse breiðr, Gothic 𐌱𐍂𐌰𐌹𐌸𐍃 (braiþs).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /b̥rɑːd̥/

Adjective

brad (comparative brader, superlative braderstn) (East Central Bavarian, Carinthia, Vienna)

1. broad, wide
2. long (of a distance)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈbrat]

Noun

brad f

1. genitive plural of brada

Etymology 1

From Old Norse bráð, from from Proto-Germanic *brēdô, cognate with German Braten.

Etymology 2

From Old Norse bráðr, from Proto-Germanic *brēþaz (“in a hurry”), cognate with Swedish bråd.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bˠɾˠad̪ˠ/

Etymology 1

From Old Irish brat (“spoil, plunder, robbery”), perhaps ultimately related to the root of brath (“betrayal, deception”).

Etymology 2

Mutation

References

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “brad”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “1 brat”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

Etymology

Possibly borrowed from Old Albanian *bradh (modern bredh), or alternatively a substratum cognate of it, and ultimately from an Indo-European source either way (a borrowing directly from modern Albanian would have presumably produced a form *brez).

Noun

brad

1. fir tree

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *braid.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /brɑːd/

Adjective

brād (superlative brādost)

1. wide, broad
   • late 9th century, translation of Bede's Ecclesiastical History

     [Wiht] is þrittiġes mīla lang ēast ⁊ west, ⁊ twelf mīla brād sūð ⁊ norð.

     [Wight] is thirty miles long east-to-west and twelve miles wide north-to-south.

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *braud, from Proto-Germanic *braudą. Cognates include Old English brēad, Old Saxon brōd and Old Dutch *brōd.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbraːd/

Noun

brād n

1. bread