brit

brit · verb¹

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*bʰrewd-“to break”
2. Proto-Germanic · derived from*breutaną“to destroy, crush, break”
3. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*brutjaną“to break, divide”
4. Old English · inherited frombrittian
5. Middle English · inherited frombrytten
6. English todaybrit

From Middle English brytten, brutten, from Old English brittian, bryttian (“to divide, dispense, distribute, rule over, possess, enjoy the use of”), from Proto-Germanic *brutjaną (“to break, divide”), from Proto-Germanic *breutaną (“to destroy, crush, break”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrewd- (“to break”). Cognate with Icelandic brytja (“to chop up, break in pieces, slaughter”), Swedish bryta (“to break, fracture, cut off”), Danish bryde (“to break”), and outside the Germanic family with Albanian brydh (“to make crumbly, friable, soft”). Related to Old English brytta (“dispenser, giver, author, governor, prince”), Old English brēotan (“to break in pieces, hew down, demolish, destroy, kill”).

brit · noun²

1. Middle English · inherited frombret
2. English todaybrit

Probably from Middle English bret or birt, applied to a different kind of fish. See bret.

brit · noun³

1. Hebrew · borrowed fromבְּרִית
2. Hebrew · borrowed fromבְּרִית
3. English todaybrit

Borrowed from Hebrew בְּרִית.

Brit · noun, adjective, proper noun⁴

First use appears c. 1901, either a shortening of Britisher or Briton, or a back-formation from British.

Words from the same roots