Etymologically
Log in

bras

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 18 October 2026 at 06:08. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /bʁa/[1]
  • IPA: /bʁɑ/[1]
  • IPA (Canada, France, Northern): [bʁɑ][1]
  • IPA (Canada, France, Northern): [bʁɔ][1]

Forms

bras m (invariable)[1] Old French braz (1080); the subject case was bras, the object case brac.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French bras, inherited from Latin bracchium (“arm”), also written “brachium”, through a popular *bracium.[2][3][5][6][1] The Latin word was borrowed from Ancient Greek βραχίων (brakhíōn, “upper arm”), probably a substantivized comparative of βραχύς (brakhús, “short”), as the Latin grammarian Festus already explained.[2][7] In Latin it also named an animal's leg or claw, a branch and an inlet of the sea, and Church Latin used it as a symbol of strength.[2] Wiktionary notes that it displaced an Old French feminine “brace” of the same origin.[1]

Cognate with Italian braccio, Occitan brac, Catalan braç, Spanish brazo, Portuguese braço and Romanian braț.[7][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as braz in the Chanson de Roland (1080), meaning the human arm.[2][8]

Semantic evolution

From the 12th century, as in Latin, bras named an arm of the sea or of a river (about 1165) and parts of objects that stick out like arms.[2] Phrases were gathered in Middle French and above all from the 17th century: a brache de corps (1465), whence à bras-le-corps (1784); à tour de bras (1587); à bras ouverts (1606); gros comme le bras (1660); bras dessus bras dessous (1693).[2] The arm as a symbol of power gave le bras séculier and le bras droit de quelqu'un “his right-hand man”, and les bras came to mean workers, labour (manquer de bras).[7][8]

Timeline

  • 1080 – Braz in the Chanson de Roland.[2]
  • c. 1080 – Embrasser “to take in one's arms”.[5]
  • c. 1165 – An arm of the sea or of a river.[2]
  • 1291 – Avant-bras.[5]
  • 1587 – À tour de bras.[2]
  • 1606 – À bras ouverts.[2]
  • 1693 – Bras dessus bras dessous.[2]
  • 1784 – À bras-le-corps.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The arm, the upper limb from the shoulder to the hand; in anatomy, the part between shoulder and elbow.[7][8]
  2. (figurative) Power, help; a worker: le bras séculier, manquer de bras, bras droit, a right-hand man.[8][7]
  3. Something shaped like an arm: the arm of a chair, of a lever, of a crane.[2][7]
  4. Bras de mer: an arm of the sea; a branch of a river.[2]
  5. Phrases: à bras ouverts, bras dessus bras dessous, à bras-le-corps, les bras m'en tombent.[2][7]

Word family

  • bracelet
  • brassard
  • brassée
  • brassière
  • embrasser
  • avant-bras

Usage notes

Bras is invariable: un bras, des bras.[1] In the Middle Ages the verb embrasser meant “to take in one's arms”; its modern sense “to kiss” dates from the 17th century.[5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  5. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 1, 485b
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  8. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse