Etymology

bras d'honneur

Today it means: An obscene gesture in which an arm is bent into an L-shape, with the closed palm pointing upwards, while the other hand then grips the biceps of the bent arm, and the bent forearm is then raised vertically; it conveys the sense of “up yours!”. Full definition →

French bras d’honneur
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The story

  1. French · borrowed frombras d’honneur
  2. English todaybras d'honneur

Borrowed from French bras d’honneur (literally “arm of honor”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.