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Added 9 October 2026

brit

/bɹɪt/ verb

verb Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about brit at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

To break in pieces; divide.
To bruise; indent.
To fall out or shatter (as overripe hops or grain).

noun

One of the young of herrings, sprats, etc.
One of the tiny crustaceans, of the genus Calanus, that are part of the diet of right whales.

noun

brit milah
A covenant, specifically that between God and the Jewish people.

Origin

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”).

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

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