Etymologically
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broad

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /brɔːd/, US /brɑːd/, /brɔːd/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English brod, inherited from Old English brād (“wide, flat, open”),[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *braidaz,[3][4] also the source of Old Frisian and Old Saxon brēd, Dutch breed, German breit, Old Norse breiðr and Gothic braiþs.[2][3][4] It is of unknown origin, with no related words outside Germanic.[3][2][4] Its vowel kept an older sound, unlike boat and road, possibly because of a shortened variant in words like broadly and broadcloth.[3] It is related to breadth.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Wide across: about 725 in Barnhart, in Beowulf, and earlier in the compound brādlāstæcus “broadaxe” (about 700).[3]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline notes that there is no clear distinction in sense between broad and wide.[2] Of daylight it is from the late 14th century, as in broad daylight, and of speech and accents, strongly regional, by the mid-15th century;[2] Bokenham wrote about 1447 that the speech of Yorkshire was so broad that southerners could hardly understand it.[2] The noun first meant breadth (about 1300).[2] In Norfolk dialect a broad is a shallow lake formed by a widening river, from the 1650s,[2][6] hence the Broads.[1][7] The American slang sense “woman” is by 1911, and its early use suggests immorality or low status;[2] because of this the athletic broad jump (1863) was renamed the long jump.[2] Broadcast was first used of scattering seed (1767).[3]

Timeline

  • c. 725 – wide.[3]
  • c. 1300 – noun, breadth.[2]
  • late 14th century – broad day.[2]
  • mid-15th century – of speech, strongly regional.[2]
  • 1650s – a Norfolk lake.[2]
  • 1726 – broaden.[3]
  • 1767 – broadcast, of seed.[3]
  • 1911 – slang, a woman.[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Wide from side to side.
  2. Large in extent; spacious.
  3. Covering many things or people; general: a broad range.
  4. Dealing with the main points and not the details: in broad terms.
  5. Tolerant or liberal.
  6. Of speech, strongly marked by a regional accent.
  7. Clear and open: a broad hint, broad daylight.
  8. Coarse or vulgar: broad humour.

Noun

  1. (slang, US, offensive) A woman.
  2. (Broads) The shallow lakes of Norfolk and Suffolk.

Word family

  • broadly
  • broadness
  • broadish
  • breadth
  • broadband
  • broaden
  • broadscale
  • broadsword

References

  1. ^ a b Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ 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)
  7. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins