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Etymology and origin of the English word bravo

Merriam-Webster and the OED give the hired ruffian and the cry of approval separate entries;[1][2] both come from the same Italian adjective, borrowed at different times.[3][4]

Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈbɹɑːvəʊ/, /bɹɑːˈvəʊ/[5]
  • US: /ˈbɹɑvoʊ/, /bɹɑˈvoʊ/[5]

bravo1 hired ruffian

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1586, G. Whetstone, Mirrour for Magestrates of Citties
Borrowed from
Italian bravo
Ultimate origin
Italian bravo
Etymology tree of bravo1
inherited borrowed derived
Ancient Greek βάρβαρος
Latin barbaria
Latin barbarus
Italian bravo
English bravo
French brave
French bravo
From the same root · bravo1
English barbarian ← βάρβαρος

Etymology

The hired ruffian is borrowed from Italian bravo (“a bold man; a ruffian”), a noun use of bravo (“bold, wild”),[1][3][6][2] the Italian adjective behind brave.[2][7][8] Klein derives the Italian word from Latin barbarus.[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

A hired killer or bully, a reckless desperado: 1586, in George Whetstone's Mirrour for Magestrates of Citties, which speaks of the bravoes of Rome and Naples.[10] The OED's first quotation is from Samuel Daniel's Civil Wars (1609 edition), which Barnhart dates to 1597;[2][11][10] Etymonline gives the 1590s and Merriam-Webster 1600.[7][1]

Semantic evolution

Johnson (1755) defined a bravo as a man who murders for hire,[12][2] and Weekley remarked that Italian called a cowardly assassin a "brave man".[4] In the early 17th century the word was also used for bravado, a sense obsolete after 1742.[2][3] The word is now chiefly historical or literary.[2][1]

Timeline

  • 1586 – a hired killer or desperado.[10]
  • 1616 – (obsolete) bravado.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A hired assassin or thug; a desperado.

bravo2 well done

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1761, G. Colman, The Jealous Wife
Borrowed from
Italian bravo
Ultimate origin
Italian bravo
Etymology tree of bravo2
inherited borrowed derived
Ancient Greek βάρβαρος
Latin barbaria
Latin barbarus
Italian bravo
English bravo
French brave
French bravo
From the same root · bravo2
English barbarian ← βάρβαρος

Etymology

The cry of approval is borrowed from Italian bravo (“fine, splendid, well done”),[2][11][1][4] the same adjective as the noun meaning a ruffian,[3][9] whose superlative is bravissimo.[2][7] The Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English take it through bravo,[3][6] and Barnhart thinks the existing English noun may have influenced it.[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Excellent! well done!: 1761, in George Colman's comedy The Jealous Wife.[2][11][7]

Semantic evolution

The interjection was used in applauding actors and singers;[9] in Italian the feminine brava is said to a woman and the plural bravi to several performers, and some English writers have followed this use.[9][7][1] As a noun, a shout of bravo, it is recorded in 1806 in Merriam-Webster and in 1844 in the OED,[1][2] and as a verb, to greet with cries of bravo, from 1831.[2] Since the early 1950s Bravo has been the code word for the letter B in radio communication,[1][2] and in military use the name of the second unit of a group (1958).[2]

Timeline

  • 1761 – interjection, well done![2][11]
  • 1806 – noun, a shout of approval.[1]
  • 1831 – verb, to applaud with cries of bravo.[2]
  • 1953 – Bravo, code word for B.[2]

Modern meaning

Interjection

  1. Well done! Used to applaud a performer or praise an achievement.

Noun

  1. A cry of bravo; a cheer: The tenor left the stage to loud bravos.
  2. Bravo: a code word for the letter B in radio communication.

Verb

  1. To greet or applaud with cries of bravo.

Word family

  • bravissimo

Usage notes

The Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary notes that the word is always stressed on the first syllable when used for the letter B in the international spelling alphabet.[13]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e 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 Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  5. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  6. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  9. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  10. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  11. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  13. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Bravo.” Etymologically, 22 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/bravo. Accessed 23 Oct. 2026.

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