Etymologically
Log in

brig

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the English word brig

Pronunciation

brig1 two-masted ship

Confidence
Established
Formation
Clipping
First attested
1712
Ultimate origin
Old Italian brigare

Etymology

The two-masted ship is a clipping from English brigantine,[2][3][4][5][6][7] originally a colloquial one.[2][3] brigantine is from Middle French brigantin,[4][8] from Old Italian brigantino,[4][8] perhaps first "a skirmishing vessel",[2][3] formed from brigante (“irregular soldier, brigand”) with the suffix -ino,[4][8] from brigare (“to fight”).[8][3] It is thus related to brigade, brigadier and brigand.[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

A brigantine; a two-masted sailing ship: Merriam-Webster dates the first known use to 1712.[4] The OED's first quotation is from the London Gazette of 1720,[2] the date Etymonline and Barnhart also give;[3][9] Dictionary.com gives 1705–15.[10]

Semantic evolution

At first brig was simply a short name for the brigantine.[2][5][11] Later the two words were applied to different rigs:[6][12] the brig came to mean a two-masted vessel square-rigged on both masts, with an extra fore-and-aft sail on a gaff and boom on the mainmast,[2][5][9] while brigantine was kept for what was also called a hermaphrodite brig, with a brig's foremast and a schooner's mainmast.[12][2][5] Merriam-Webster notes that the shortened word was used in the 18th century for ships of various sorts.[8]

Timeline

  • 1712 – a brigantine; a two-masted ship.[4] The OED, Etymonline and Barnhart date the two-masted, square-rigged vessel to 1720.[2][3][9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A two-masted sailing ship, square-rigged on both masts: The brig beat slowly up the coast against the wind.[4][13][11]
  2. (historical) A brigantine.[4][5]

Word family

  • hermaphrodite brig

brig2 ship's prison

Confidence
Probable
First attested
1832
Ultimate origin
English brig

Etymology

The ship's prison is probably from English brig1, the sailing ship:[4][8] the usual explanation is that such ships were once used as prison ships,[14][3][15][8] Etymonline suggesting vessels retired from active duty.[3] Barnhart calls the origin obscure.[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

A place of confinement for offenders on a ship: Merriam-Webster dates the first known use to 1832,[4] and Etymonline finds the sense of a ship's jail in American English by 1841.[3] The OED's first quotation is from the Knickerbocker magazine of 1852,[2] Barnhart's date too.[14][9]

Semantic evolution

In the US Navy the brig was at first a place on board a man-of-war: Herman Melville's White-Jacket (1850) describes it as a jail between two guns on the main deck.[16] The Army and Marine Corps then took the word for a guardhouse, and tramps used it for a police station.[16] It is still slang, originally American, for a military or naval prison.[2][5] A verb brig, to imprison, is recorded in US military slang from 1920.[16]

Timeline

  • 1832 – a place of confinement on a ship.[4] The OED and Barnhart date it to 1852.[2][9] It later also meant a naval or military prison.[2]
  • 1920 – verb, to imprison (US military slang).[16]
  • 1931 – a police station (tramps' slang).[16]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A prison on a warship, or a naval or military prison; a guardhouse: He spent three days in the brig for striking an officer.[4][13][2]
  2. (US slang) Any prison or police station.[13][16]

Verb

  1. (US military slang) To imprison.[16]

Usage notes

In Scotland and northern England brig is also a form of bridge, from Old Norse bryggja.[13][17][18][19] The OED records it, as a regional variant of bridge, for various bridge-shaped utensils such as an iron bar for holding a pot over a fire, from 1536.[2]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster's Book of Word Histories, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  9. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  10. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  11. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  12. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  13. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  14. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  15. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  16. ^ a b c d e f g Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  17. ^ The Chambers Dictionary (2014), 13th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers
  18. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  19. ^ 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)

Derived terms

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Brig.” Etymologically, 31 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/brig. Accessed 1 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·