brochure

Etymology

It is borrowed from French brochure (“a stitched work”),^[2][3][4][5] from brocher (“to stitch”) (sheets of a book together),^[2][6][7][8] with the suffix -ure.^[4][9][10] The verb comes from Old French brochier (“to prick, jab, pierce”),^[2][3] a derivative of broche (“pointed tool, awl”),^[2][3][11] the source of English broach.^[2][12] The Old French noun comes from Vulgar Latin *brocca (“pointed tool”), a noun use of Latin broccus (“projecting, pointed”), used especially of teeth,^[2][13] which Etymonline thinks may be of Gaulish origin.^[2] In Anglo-Norman the verb brocher is recorded from 1155, meaning to prick or spur.^[14]

Earliest recorded meaning

A pamphlet, a short work of a few pages stitched together: Barnhart, Etymonline and Merriam-Webster date it to 1748,^[3][2][9] Dictionary.com to 1755–65,^[15] and the OED's first quotation is from a letter of Lord Chesterfield of 1765.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The name refers to how the first brochures were made: a few leaves stitched together rather than properly bound.^[13][3][4] From a general word for a pamphlet or booklet, the word came to mean especially one describing the attractions of a place,^[4][10] and Cresswell notes that it is now associated above all with holidays.^[13] Merriam-Webster also records it for a treatise or article published in pamphlet form.^[9] Collins defines it as a booklet with summary, introductory or advertising information.^[6]

Timeline

• 1748 – a pamphlet, a short stitched work (Barnhart, Etymonline).^[3][2]
• 1765 – first OED quotation, in a letter of Lord Chesterfield.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small booklet or pamphlet, especially one with advertising or summary information: a holiday brochure for the Greek islands.^[6][9][10]
2. A treatise or article published as a pamphlet.^[9]

Related words

• broach
• brooch
• brochette
• broccoli

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
7. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
12. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
13. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
15. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House