bris

B3R1I1S1
UK, US/bɹɪs/

noun

Ritual male circumcision; the ceremony in which this is performed.

Similar
UncommonScrabble 6

Meanings

bris1

nounbris (plural brises or brisses or britot)

plural brises · plural brisses · plural britot

  1. 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 155
    2 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 129

    However, 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 109

    Synonyms: bris milah, brit milah

Bris2

proper noun
  1. colloquialBrisbane, Australia.

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

Similar
BerithBeritBrithBriss
Also see

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Hebrewבְּרִית“covenant”
  2. Yiddishברית
  3. Englishbris

Borrowed from Yiddish ברית (bris), from Hebrew בְּרִית (bərîṯ, “covenant”).

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
APA

bris. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bris

MLA

“bris.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bris. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bris,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bris.

Source: bris on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.