briefcase

Etymology

It is a compound from English brief (“a document, especially a lawyer's brief”) + case (“a box or container”).^[2][3][4][5] Etymonline takes brief in its sense of a paper or document,^[3] and Merriam-Webster describes the case as one made to carry legal briefs or other papers.^[4] An earlier word for such a bag was brief-bag, recorded from 1806.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A portable case for holding papers: Merriam-Webster's Unabridged gives 1900 as the first known use,^[4] Etymonline dates brief-case to 1908,^[3] the Collegiate gives 1917,^[6] and the OED's first quotation is from 1926, in American Speech.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The word was at first often written as two parts, brief-case, the form under which the OED enters it.^[3][7] Chambers explains it as a small case for carrying briefs or documents in general,^[8] and current dictionaries describe it as a flat case, often of leather, with a handle, used for papers and books.^[9][4][10] Dictionary.com dates the word to 1925–30, later than the other sources.^[5] In American slang a briefcase is also a faceless, anonymous businessman, recorded in 2001.^[11]

Timeline

• 1806 – brief-bag, the earlier name for a bag for papers.^[3]
• 1900 – a flat case for carrying legal briefs or other papers.^[4] Etymonline dates brief-case to 1908, and the OED's first quotation is from 1926.^[3][7]
• 2001 – US slang, an anonymous businessman.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A flat, portable case with a handle, often of leather, for carrying documents, papers or books: She left her briefcase on the train.^{[9][4][12][10]}
2. (US slang) A faceless, anonymous businessman.^[11]

Related words

• brief
• case
• attaché case

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ The Chambers Dictionary (2008), 11th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap
9. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c Dalzell, Tom; Victor, Terry, eds. (2013), The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, 2nd ed., London: Routledge
12. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin