Standard Lemma guide

brae

noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /bɹeɪ/
  • Received-Pronunciation, dialectal: /bɹɪə/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /bɹiː/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Scotland: /bɾe/
  • General-American: /bɹeɪ/
  • homophone: bray
  • rhymes with -eɪ
  • rhymes with -iː
  • CMU ARPABET: B R EY1 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The sloping bank of a river valley.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Northern-England, Scotland

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Any hillside or slope.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Northern-England, Scotland

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

a slope or hillside

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: hillside

History

Etymology

From Middle English bro, bra (“bank of a stream; raised edge of a ditch or pit”), from Old Norse brá (“eyebrow; eyelash”) (probably in the sense of the brow of a hill), from Proto-Germanic *brēwō (“eyebrow”), from Proto-Indo-European *h3bhrúHs (“eyebrow”). The English word is cognate with Old English brǣw, brēaw (“eyelid”), Old High German brāwa (Middle High German brā, modern German Braue (“eyebrow”)), Old Saxon brāwa, brāha (“eyebrow; eyelash”); and is a doublet of bree (“(Scotland) brow; forehead; (obsolete or dialectal, Scotland) eyebrow; eyelid”) and brow.

Across languages

Translations

3 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Crimean Tatar: bayır — sloping bank of a river valley
  • Irish: brí — sloping bank of a river valley
  • Scottish Gaelic: bruthach — sloping bank of a river valley