Etymologically
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braggart

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈbɹæɡɑːt/ (UK); /ˈbɹæɡɚt/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French bragard,[2][3][4] from braguer “to brag, to show off”[2][3][4] and the pejorative suffix -ard.[3][4] Barnhart and Etymonline suggest the French verb first meant “to show off clothes, especially breeches”, from brague “breeches”.[3][4] The word has been influenced in English by brag,[4] though Barnhart notes that the French words cannot underlie English brag, which is about 300 years older.[3] Random House analyses it as brag plus -art.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A vain boaster, one who brags a great deal (before 1577).[6][3][7]

Semantic evolution

The adjective, “boastful”, followed in 1613.[6][4] The older agent noun bragger, recorded from the late 14th century, has become practically a variant of this word.[4]

Timeline

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A person given to loud, empty boasting; a bragger.

Adjective

  1. Boastful.

Word family

  • braggartism
  • braggartly
  • brag
  • bracket
  • braggadocio

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
  6. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster