Meanings
bris1
plural brises · plural brisses · plural britot
- JudaismRitual male circumcision; the ceremony in which this is performed.
Although indigenous visual documentation of the bris was, until the advent of video, limited and often oblique, the ceremony is a longstanding fixture of Christian art.
2009, Jeffrey Shandler, Jews, God, and Videotape: Religion and Media in America, page 1552 more examples
The night before the bris, he invited nine of his little buddies to come and say kerias shema around the baby's bassinet. Mommy and Daddy, who flew in for the bris, were so touched, they kept dabbing their eyes and coughing.
1993, Miriam Rose, Miriam Zakon, “The Baker Family Circus”, in Baker's Dozen, volume 4, Omnibus, page 129However, if the baby is born on a Wednesday night, then the bris would occur on the following Thursday morning because Jewish days begin at sundown, and the bris is tradionally performed during the day. (Note that the Talmud (see Chapter 3) states if the baby's health is in question, then the bris must be postponed.)
2013, Ted Falcon, David Blatner, Judaism For Dummies, 2nd edition, page 109Synonyms: bris milah, brit milah
Bris2
Synonyms & antonyms
nounRitual male circumcision; the ceremony in which this is performed.
More synonyms by meaning
nounthe Jewish rite of circumcision performed on a male child on the eighth day of his life
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Hebrewבְּרִית“covenant”
- Yiddishברית
- Englishbris
Borrowed from Yiddish ברית (bris), from Hebrew בְּרִית (bərîṯ, “covenant”).
More words from Yiddish, Hebrew
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Hebrew בְּרִית
- בְּרִית (bərîṯ)ritual male circumcision
Italian brit milà
- brit milàritual male circumcision
Polish bris, brit mila
- brisritual male circumcision
- brit milaritual male circumcision
Yiddish ברית
- ברית (bris)ritual male circumcision
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with bris
All rhymes →Cite this entry
bris. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bris
“bris.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bris. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bris,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bris.
Source: bris on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.