adj
Meaning 1
Abbreviation of British.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: abbreviation, alt-of
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
Brit
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.
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/bɹɪt/
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Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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rhymes with -ɪt
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CMU ARPABET: B R IH1 T Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
name
Meaning 2
Abbreviation of Britain.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: abbreviation, alt-of
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
name
Meaning 3
Abbreviation of British English.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: abbreviation, alt-of
Topics: human-sciences, lexicography, linguistics, sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
name
Meaning 4
A short river in Dorset, England, which flows through Bridport to the sea at West Bay; in full, the River Brit.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 5
A British person.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: informal
Qualifier: formerly offensive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 6
A Brit Award, a prize for musicians in Britain.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 7
One of the young of herrings, sprats, etc.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 8
One of the tiny crustaceans, of the genus Calanus, that are part of the diet of right whales.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 9
brit milah
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 10
A covenant, specifically that between God and the Jewish people.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 11
To break in pieces; divide.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 12
To bruise; indent.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 13
To fall out or shatter (as overripe hops or grain).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: intransitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 14
To fade away; alter.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: dialectal, intransitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 15
minute crustaceans forming food for right whales
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: britt
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: copepod, copepod crustacean
noun
Meaning 16
the young of a herring or sprat or similar fish
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: britt
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: young fish
noun
Meaning 17
a native or inhabitant of Great Britain
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: Britisher, Briton
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: European
Narrower terms: English person, patrial
History
Etymology
First use appears c. 1901, either a shortening of Britisher or Briton, or a back-formation from British.
Probably from Middle English bret or birt, applied to a different kind of fish. See bret.
Borrowed from Hebrew בְּרִית.
From Middle English brytten, brutten, from Old English brittian, bryttian (“to divide, dispense, distribute, rule over, possess, enjoy the use of”), from Proto-Germanic *brutjaną (“to break, divide”), from Proto-Germanic *breutaną (“to destroy, crush, break”), from Proto-Indo-European *bhrewd- (“to break”). Cognate with Icelandic brytja (“to chop up, break in pieces, slaughter”), Swedish bryta (“to break, fracture, cut off”), Danish bryde (“to break”), and outside the Germanic family with Albanian brydh (“to make crumbly, friable, soft”). Related to Old English brytta (“dispenser, giver, author, governor, prince”), Old English brēotan (“to break in pieces, hew down, demolish, destroy, kill”).