英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

brachiopod (n.)[brachiopod 词源字典]: type of bivalve mollusk, 1836, Modern Latin, from Greek brakhion "arm" (see brachio-) + pous "foot," from PIE root *ped- (1) "a foot" (see foot (n.)). They have long spiral "arms" on either side of their mouths.[brachiopod etymology, brachiopod origin, 英语词源]
brachiosaurus (n.): 1903, Modern Latin, from Greek brakhion "arm" (see brachio-) + -saurus. The forelegs are notably longer than the hind legs.
brachy-: word-forming element meaning "short," from Latinized comb. form of Greek brakhys "short" (see brief (adj.)).
brack (adj.): "salty, briny," 1510s, from Dutch brak "brackish," probably from Middle Dutch brak "worthless," a word also used in commercial trade and which also made its way into early Modern English.
bracken (n.): "coarse fern," early 14c., a northern England word from a Scandinavian source (compare Danish bregne, Swedish bräken "fern").
bracket (n.): 1570s, bragget, "architectural support," probably from Middle French braguette "codpiece armor" (16c.), from a fancied resemblance of architectural supports to that article of attire (Spanish cognate bragueta meant both "codpiece" and "bracket"), diminutive of brague "knee pants," ultimately from Gaulish *braca "pants," itself perhaps from Germanic (compare Old English broc "garment for the legs and trunk;" see breeches). The architectural meaning also might reflect the "breeches" sense, on the notion of two limbs or of appliances used in pairs. The typographical bracket is first recorded 1750, so called for its resemblance to double supports in carpentry (a sense attested from 1610s). Senses affected by Latin brachium "arm."
bracket (v.): 1797, of printed matter, "to enclose in brackets," from bracket (n.). Also, "to couple or connect with a brace" (1827), also figurative, "to couple one thing with another" in writing (1807). Artillery rangefinding sense is from 1903, from the noun (1891) in the specialized sense "distance between the ranges of two shells, one under and one over the object." Related: Bracketed; bracketing. In home-building and joinery, bracketed is attested by 1801.
brackish (adj.): 1530s, from Scottish brack "salty" (see brack) + -ish. Related: Brackishness.
bract (n.): in botany, "small leaf at the base of a flower," Modern Latin, from Latin bractea, literally "thin metal plate," which is of unknown origin. Related: Bracteal; bracteate.
brad (n.): "small wire nail," late 13c., brod, from Old Norse broddr "spike, point, arrow," from Proto-Germanic *brozda- (cognates: Old English brord "point, prick, blade of grass," Old High German brort "point, edge, crown"), from PIE *bhrs-dh-, from root *bhars- "projectile, point, bristle" (see bristle (n.)).
brady-: medical word-forming element meaning "slow, delayed, tardy," from Greek bradys "slow;" as in bradycardia (1890), with Latinized form of Greek kardia "heart;" bradykinesia, "slow movement," with Greek kinesis "movement, motion;" bradypnea, with Greek pneo/pnein "to breathe."
brae (n.): "steep slope," in northern England especially "the sides of a hill," early 14c., from Scottish, "slope, river bank," from Old Norse bra "eyelash," cognate with Old English bræw "eyelid," German Braue "eyebrow" (see brow). "The word must have passed through the sense of 'eye-brow' to 'brow of a hill', supercilium (cf. OE. eaghill 'eye-hill'=eyebrow)" [OED].
brag (n.): late 14c., "pomp; arrogance, pride;" see brag (v.); the exact relationship of the forms is uncertain. Meaning "that which is boasted" is from 1530s. As a once-popular poker-like card game, from 1734.
brag (v.): mid-14c., braggen "to make a loud sound," also "to talk boastfully," of obscure origin, perhaps related to bray of a trumpet, or related to the Middle English adjective brag "ostentatious, proud; spirited, brave" (early 14c.), which probably is from Celtic. Other sources suggest Old Norse bragr "the best, the toast (of anything)," also "poetry." Also see braggart for another possibility. Related: Bragged; bragging.
Braganza: city in Portugal (Portuguese Bragança), from Celtic briga "height"
braggadocio (n.): Spenser's coinage, 1590, as a name for his personification of vainglory, from brag, with augmentative ending by analogy to the Italian words then in vogue in England. In general use by 1594 for "an empty swaggerer;" of the talk of such persons, from 1734.
braggart (n.): 1570s, from French bragard (16c.), with pejorative ending (see -ard) + Middle French braguer "to flaunt, brag," perhaps originally "to show off clothes, especially breeches," from brague "breeches" (see bracket). There may be an element of codpiece-flaunting in all this.

The word in English has been at least influenced by brag (v.), even if, as some claim, it is unrelated to it. Bragger "arrogant or boastful person," agent noun from brag (v.), attested in English from late 14c.
Brahma: 1785, from Sanskrit Brahma, nominative of Brahman, chief god of the trinity Brahma-Vishnu-Siva in post-Vedic Hindu religion (see brahmin).
Brahman: see brahmin.
Brahmaputra: river in Asia, Hindi, literally "son of Brahma."