Etymology

bran

B3R1A1N1

Today it means: The broken coat of the seed of wheat, rye, or other cereal grain, separated from the flour or meal by sifting or bolting; the coarse, chaffy part of ground grain. Full definition →

Middle English bran ← Old French bren ← Gaulish brennos
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bran · noun, verb1

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*bʰreHg-
  2. Proto-Celtic · derived from*bragnos“rotten, foul”
  3. Gaulish · derived frombrennos“rotten”
  4. Old French · derived frombren
  5. Middle English · inherited frombran
  6. English todaybran

From Middle English bran, branne, bren, from Old French bren, bran (“bran, filth”), from Gaulish brennos (“rotten”), from Proto-Celtic *bragnos (“rotten, foul”) (compare Welsh braen (“stench”), Irish bréan (“rancid”), Walloon brin (“excrement”)), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreHg- (compare Latin fragrāre (“to smell strongly”), Dutch brak (“hound”)).

bran · noun2

From a Celtic source; compare Welsh brân and Cornish bran.

Bran · proper noun3

English surname, variant of Brann.

Words from the same roots

Proto-Indo-European*bʰreHg- all →

bray

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.