Meanings
nounbruvver (plural bruvvers)
plural bruvvers
- CockneyMulticultural London EnglishslangBrother.
Gawd knows when yer bruvver's gonna get married.
1992, Harry Bowling, The girl from Cotton Lane, Headline Book Publishing1 more example
Gurdjieff I thot a man an a bruvver, but NObuddy is goin to swallow Ouspensky
1953, Ezra Pound, letter to Margaret Anderson, reproduced in Thomas L. Scott et al. (editors), Pound/The Little Review: the Letters of Ezra Pound to Margaret Anderson, New Directions Books (1988), page 314 - nonstandardNonstandard form of brother.
Chicken was still elated. "I was way up there, wasn’t I? Wasn’t I? I’m a tell my brovver."
1973, Toni Morrison, Sula, page 60
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*bʰréh₂tēr
- Proto-Germanic*brōþēr
- Proto-West Germanic*brōþer
- Old Englishbrōþor
- Middle Englishbrother
- Englishbrother
- Englishbruvver
Representing the Cockney or Multicultural London English pronunciation of brother (th-fronting).
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with bruvver
All rhymes →Cite this entry
APA
bruvver. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bruvver
MLA
“bruvver.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bruvver. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bruvver,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bruvver.
Source: bruvver on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.