Etymologically
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brag

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Pronunciation

Etymology

Its origin is unknown.[2][3][4][5][6][7] The adjective is recorded first, before the noun and the verb, and they may have grown out of it, though the OED thinks it is doubtful whether the adjective or the noun came first.[8][4][2] The Middle English forms are the adjective brag (“ostentatious, proud; spirited, brave”),[9] a noun of the same spelling and the verb braggen.[9][10] The words Middle French braguer (“to flaunt, brag”) and bragard appear only in the 16th century, too late to be the source, though braggart is from French.[2][5][7][11] The MED calls the adjective probably Celtic,[9] and Barnhart mentions a Gaulish source through Provençal; others have proposed Old Norse bragr (“the best, the foremost”) or brak (“creaking noise”), which the OED and Barnhart find weak.[8][2][11] Etymonline also suggests an imitative origin linked to the bray of a trumpet,[11] and Weekley a root expressing an explosive noise.[12] Skeat derived it from Scandinavian.[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

As an adjective, boastful: about 1315, in Shoreham's poems;[2] Barnhart dates the adjective to about 1325.[14][8] The verb, to talk boastfully, follows in 1377 in Langland's Piers Plowman,[2][8] and the noun, boasting, about 1360.[2]

Semantic evolution

The adjective first meant both "spirited, brave" and "boastful", senses that died out in the 17th century.[2][3][4] The verb could also be used in the Wycliffite Bible (1382) of a trumpet sounding loudly, a sense that did not last.[2][12] The noun meant pomp, show or arrogance as well as boasting,[11][9][2] and the sense "something boasted of" dates from the 1530s;[11][2] from 1671 it was used of a boaster.[2] From 1734 brag was a card game resembling poker,[2][11] which gave the figurative phrase to play a game of brag (1845).[2] In American use the adjective revived in 1836 as "first-rate".[2][15] In Scotland the verb kept the old sense "to challenge, defy",[16][2] and on the Isle of Man to take brag out of meant to praise.[16]

Timeline

  • c. 1315 – adjective, boastful (obsolete).[2]
  • before 1350 – adjective, spirited, lively (obsolete).[2]
  • c. 1360 – noun, boastful talk.[2]
  • 1377 – verb, to boast.[2][8]
  • 1382 – of a trumpet, to sound loudly (obsolete).[2]
  • 1530s – something boasted of.[11]
  • 1551 – to defy or challenge (now dialect).[2]
  • 1734 – a card game like poker.[2][11]
  • 1836 – adjective, first-rate (US).[2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To talk about oneself or one's possessions in a boastful way: He bragged about his new boat all evening.[6][17][2]
  2. (Scottish) To defy or challenge.[17][2][16]

Noun

  1. Boastful talk or behaviour, or a boastful statement.[6][17][2]
  2. Something that is boasted of.[6][2]
  3. A braggart.[6][2]
  4. A card game, an old form of poker.[6][2]

Adjective

  1. (US, informal) First-rate; good enough to boast about.[17][2]
  2. (obsolete, before 1350–1610) Spirited, lively, brave.[2][3][17]

Word family

  • bragger
  • braggy
  • braggingly
  • bragless
  • braggart
  • outbrag
  • bragging rights
  • braggadocio
  • bray

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  7. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  8. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  9. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  12. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  13. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  14. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  15. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  16. ^ a b c Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  17. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster