brad English · revision 7689

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1295|origins=non broddr}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /bɹæd/; /bɹad/ ''(UK)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a variant of dialect [[brod]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986)^(MWU 2024) [[bor|non|broddr|t=spike, point, shaft]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)^(NODE 1998) from Proto-Germanic *brozdaz, source also of Old English brord, point, blade of grass, and Old High German brort, edge,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) from PIE *bʰrs-dʰ-, from the root of [[bristle]].^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A thin, flattish nail: 1295 as brod,^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989) the late 13th century in Etymonline; brad in bradsmyth, a maker of nails, 1455.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) Brod as a sprout or shoot is earlier, probably about 1200, in the ''Ormulum''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The verb, to fasten with brads, is from 1794.^(OED 1989) A slang sense is recorded from 1812.^(OED 1989) The ''bradawl'', an awl for making holes for brads, is 19th-century.^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1200 – brod, a shoot.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1295 – brod, a nail.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1455 – bradsmyth.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1794 – the verb.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A thin [[nail]] with a small head, or with a slight projection on one side instead of a head.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[bradawl]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[brod]]

+ * [[bristle]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The OED also records brad as an obsolete form of bread and broad.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}