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Added 9 October 2026

brake

/bɹeɪk/ noun

Categories: ThingsPlantsUncommon Words

In Latin: sufflāmen Wiktionary

noun Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about brake at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

  1. A restraint used to slow or stop a vehicle.
  2. Any of various ferns of the genus Pteris having pinnately compound leaves and including several popular houseplants.
  3. Large coarse fern often several feet high; essentially weed ferns; cosmopolitan.

verb

  1. Stop travelling by applying a brake.
    We had to brake suddenly when a chicken crossed the road
  2. Cause to stop by applying the brakes.
    brake the car before you go into a curve

Origin

Origin uncertain; possibly from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German brake (“nose ring, curb, flax brake”), which according to Watkins is related to sense 4 and from Proto-Germanic *brekaną (“to break”).

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

Related Words: brackenthicketdamperlidliningbenchdraggearbarrierrem

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