breed

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈbɹiːd/^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English breden, inherited from Old English brēdan (“to bring young to birth; cherish, keep warm”),^[2][3][4] earlier brœdan,^[3] from West Germanic *brōdjan,^[2][5] source also of German brüten (“to brood, hatch”),^[2][5] from *brōd-, brood,^[2][3][5] from PIE *bʰrew-, to boil, bubble, burn.^[2] Barnhart notes that breed and brood are related like feed and food or bleed and blood.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

To bring young to birth, hatch: before 850 in an Old English glossary.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The etymological notion is incubation, warming to hatch.^[2] To come into being is from about 1200, and to beget or bear offspring from the mid-13th century.^[2] Of livestock, to produce by mating and rear for use, it is from the mid-14th century.^[2] To grow up, be reared, is from the late 14th century, and to form by education from the mid-15th.^[2] The noun, race or stock, is first recorded in 1465 in breedgoose,^[3] and of animals from 1553, of men from 1596, and a kind or sort from 1588.^[6][2] In dialect breed meant to give rise to an illness.^[7]

Timeline

• before 850 – to hatch.^[3]
• c. 1200 – to come into being.^[2]
• mid-14th century – to raise livestock.^[2]
• 1465 – the noun.^[3]
• 1588 – a kind.^[6]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To produce offspring; to give birth to or hatch.
2. To keep animals or plants in order to produce young, especially of improved kinds.
3. To bring up or raise.
4. To cause or give rise to: to breed trouble.

Noun

1. A group of animals or plants within a species with shared characteristics, developed by selective breeding.
2. A kind or sort.

Word family

• breedable
• breeder
• breeding
• colorbreed
• crossbreed
• inbreed
• interbreed
• outbreed

Related words

• brood
• bred

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ 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)