Etymology

brush

B3R1U1S1H4

Today it means: An implement consisting of multiple more or less flexible bristles or other filaments attached to a handle, used for any of various purposes including cleaning, painting, and arranging hair. Full definition →

Middle English brusshe ← Old French broisse ← Vulgar Latin *brustia
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*bʰers-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*bʰr̥stís
  3. Proto-Germanic*bʰurstís
  4. Proto-Germanic*burstiz
  5. Frankish*bursti
  6. Vulgar Latin*brustia
  7. Old Frenchbroisse
  8. Middle Englishbrusshe
  9. English todaybrush

From Middle English brusshe, from Old French broisse (Modern French brosse), from Vulgar Latin *brustia, from Frankish *bursti, from Proto-Germanic *burstiz (“bristle”), or also Vulgar Latin *bruscia, from Proto-Germanic *bruskaz (“tuft, thicket, underbrush”), which could be from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrusgo-.

Words from the same roots

Proto-Germanic*burstiz all →

bristle

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.