bright

bright · adjective, noun¹

1. Middle English · inherited frombright“brightness, brilliance; daylight; light”
2. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*bʰerHǵ-“to gleam, shine, whiten”
3. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*berhtaz“bright”
4. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*berht
5. Old English · inherited fromberht
6. Middle English · inherited frombright
7. English todaybright

The adjective is from Middle English bright, from Old English berht, beorht, bryht, byrht, from Proto-West Germanic *berht, from Proto-Germanic *berhtaz (“bright”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerHǵ- (“to gleam, shine, whiten”). The noun is derived from Middle English bright (“brightness, brilliance; daylight; light”), from bright (adjective): see above. Cognates Cognate with Scots bricht (“bright”), Danish bjært (“bright”), Faroese and Icelandic bjartur (“bright”), Norwegian Nynorsk bjart (“bright”), Swedish bjärt (“bright”), Gothic 𐌱𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌷𐍄𐍃 (bairhts, “bright, clear; evident”); also Welsh berth (“beautiful, fair, fine”), Albanian bardhë (“white”), Lithuanian brėkšti (“to dawn”), Polish brzeżdżyć (“to dawn”), Russian бре́зжить (brézžitʹ, “to dawn”), Persian برازیدن (barâzidan, “to beautify; to befit”).

bright · adverb²

1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*berhtaz“bright, shining”
2. Old English · inherited frombreohte
3. Middle English · inherited frombrighte“brightly; (figuratively) brilliantly, lustrously; of colour: boldly, vividly; clearly, distinctly; of voice: loudly”
4. English todaybright

From Middle English brighte (“brightly; (figuratively) brilliantly, lustrously; of colour: boldly, vividly; clearly, distinctly; of voice: loudly”) [and other forms], from Old English breohte, beorhte (West Saxon) [and other forms], ultimately from Proto-Germanic *berhtaz (“bright, shining”); see further at etymology 1.

bright · verb³

1. Old English · inherited frombeorhtian“to brighten, shine; to sound clearly or loudly”
2. Middle English · inherited frombrighten“to illuminate; to become light, dawn; (figuratively) to cleanse, purify; to clarify, explain”
3. English todaybright

From Middle English brighten (“to illuminate; to become light, dawn; (figuratively) to cleanse, purify; to clarify, explain”) [and other forms], from Old English beorhtian (“to brighten, shine; to sound clearly or loudly”) [and other forms], probably from beorht (“bright, clear”, adjective) (see further at etymology 1) + -ian (suffix forming verbs from adjectives and nouns). Later uses of the word are probably also derived from the adjective.

Bright · proper noun⁴

As an English surname, from the root of bright. As an Anglicized German surname, from Brecht and Breit.

Words from the same roots