Brit Definition

brĭt
noun
Britisher.
Webster's New World
The young of the herring and some other fishes.
Webster's New World
The young of herring and similar fish.
American Heritage
Small sea animals, esp. certain crustaceans, as copepods, eaten by the baleen whales and many fishes.
Webster's New World
Minute marine organisms, such as crustaceans of the genus Calanus, that are a major source of food for right whales.
American Heritage
Synonyms:
abbreviation
Britain.
American Heritage
British.
Webster's New World
Wiktionary
Wiktionary
(lexicography) British English.
Wiktionary
adjective
British.
Webster's New World
verb

To break in pieces; divide.

Wiktionary
Wiktionary

(intransitive) To fall out or shatter (as overripe hops or grain).

Wiktionary

(intransitive, dialectal) To fade away; alter.

Wiktionary
prefix

Other Word Forms of Brit

Noun

Singular:
brit
Plural:
brits

Origin of Brit

  • 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-Indo-European *bʰreud- (“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 Albanian brydh (“I 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”).

    From Wiktionary

  • Perhaps from Cornish brȳthel mackerel (from Old Cornish breithil) (from breith speckled) or from Welsh brithyll trout (from brith speckled)

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • 1901, either a shortening of Britisher or Briton, or a back-formation from British.

    From Wiktionary

  • Probably from Middle English bret or birt, applied to a different kind of fish. See bret.

    From Wiktionary

  • Shortened from British.

    From Wiktionary

  • Short for brit milah.

    From Wiktionary

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