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bragueta

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Etymology and origin of the Spanish word bragueta

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1488 Esopete ystoriado, Toulouse edition More words from the 15th century
Ultimate origin
Latin brāca
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin brāca
Spanish braga
Spanish bragueta

Pronunciation

  • /bɾaˈɡeta/, [bɾaˈɣ̞e.t̪a][1]

Forms

bragueta f (plural braguetas)[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Spanish braga (“breeches”) + -eta.[2][3][4][1] The base noun is from Latin brāca (“breeches”), a word of Gaulish origin.[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The DCECH dates the word about 1490.[2][3] The Esopete ystoriado, printed at Toulouse in 1488, already tells of a man who undoes his bragueta under the table.[6][7] Juan del Encina's songbook (printed 1496) speaks of calças “without feet and fly”, and Columbus's diary of the first voyage compares the cotton cloths worn by the women to una bragueta de calças de hombre, “the fly of a man's hose”.[6] In these texts it is the flap or piece covering the front opening of the hose or breeches.[6][8]

Semantic evolution

Nebrija (1495) gives braguero o bragueta as one equivalent, Latin braccale.[6] Covarrubias, as Autoridades quotes him, called bragueta the covering at the fork of the hose, and Autoridades defined it as the front opening of breeches, also called manera.[9] It also recorded hidalgo de bragueta, a father of seven sons, who by law was free of taxes, and the proverb dieta y mangueta, y siete nudos en la bragueta, advice to eat little, dress warmly and be chaste.[9] From 1843 the Academy's definition has been simply the front opening of breeches, later of trousers.[10][11]

The 19th-century dictionaries add an architectural moulding and the piece of armour that protected the genitals, the bragueta de armar.[12][13][4] In Argentina the word is also a vulgar term for an indiscreet person who talks too much.[14]

Timeline

  • 1488 – the Esopete ystoriado, printed at Toulouse.[6][7]
  • c. 1490 – the DCECH's date for the word.[2][3]
  • 1492–1493 – Columbus's diary of the first voyage.[6]
  • 1495 – Nebrija's Vocabulario: braguero o bragueta.[6]
  • 1499 – the Celestina.[8]
  • 1560 – first record in the Americas, in New Granada.[15]
  • 1726 – Autoridades records hidalgo de bragueta.[9]
  • 1853 – Gaspar y Roig record the piece of armour and the moulding.[12]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The fly, the opening at the front of trousers or breeches;[4][16][1] (colloquial) its zip: Llevas la bragueta abierta.[4][16][1]
  2. (historical) A codpiece: a piece added to hose or breeches to cover the male genitals.[4]
  3. (Argentina, vulgar) An indiscreet person who talks too much.[14]

Word family

  • calientabraguetas

Usage notes

Bragueta de armar was the piece of old armour that protected a warrior's genitals.[4] Hidalgo de bragueta was a man ennobled for having seven sons.[9][17]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 649
  3. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. braga
  4. ^ a b c d e f Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. bragueta
  5. ^ Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. braga
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. bragueta
  7. ^ a b Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (2026), Old Spanish Textual Archive (OSTA): semi-paleographic transcriptions of Old Spanish texts, ed. Francisco Gago Jover et al., https://www.hispanicseminary.org, p. s.v. bragueta
  8. ^ a b Alonso Pedraz, Martín (1986), Diccionario medieval español: desde las Glosas Emilianenses y Silenses (s. X) hasta el siglo XV, 2 vols., Salamanca: Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca, p. 545
  9. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 1, 668
  10. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 111
  11. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 118
  12. ^ a b Gaspar y Roig (eds.) (1853–1855), Biblioteca ilustrada de Gaspar y Roig: Diccionario enciclopédico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Imprenta y Librería de Gaspar y Roig, p. 1, 400
  13. ^ Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 271
  14. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. bragueta
  15. ^ Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. bragueta
  16. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. bragueta
  17. ^ Real Academia Española (1770), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 2nd ed., vol. I: A–B, Madrid: Joachín Ibarra, p. 1, 524

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Bragueta.” Etymologically, 7 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/es/bragueta. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026.

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