The story
- Old French · derived frombriber“go begging”
- Middle English · derived frombribe
- English todaybribe
From Middle English bribe, from Old French briber (“go begging”), from the noun bribe (“a gift”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
bribe
Today it means: Something (usually money) given in exchange for influence or as an inducement to breaking the law. Full definition →
Middle English bribe ← Old French briber