brief
English
/bɹiːf/
adj
Definitions
- Of short duration; happening quickly.
- Concise; taking few words.
- Occupying a small distance, area or spatial extent; short.
- (obsolete) Rife; common; prevalent.
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English breef derived from Old French brief (short letter statement) derived from Latin brevis (short, small, brief, little, of small extent, narrow, shallow) derived from Proto-Indo-European *mréǵʰus (short, brief).
Origin
Proto-Indo-European
*mréǵʰus
Gloss
short, brief
Concept
Semantic Field
Time
Ontological Category
Other
Kanji
短
Emoji
Timeline
Distribution of cognates by language
Geogrpahic distribution of cognates
Cognates and derived terms
- brevi- English
- brevipennate English
- briefcase English
- briefen English
- briefening English
- briefer English
- briefie English
- briefish English
- briefless English
- brieflessness English
- briefly English
- briefman English
- briefness English
- case English
- debrief English
- debriefer English
- misbrief English
- overbrief English
- rebrief English
- breviarium Latin
- brevicaudus Latin
- breviceps Latin
- brevicollis Latin
- breviflorus Latin
- brevifolius Latin
- breviloquens Latin
- breviloquium Latin
- brevio Latin
- brevipalpus Latin
- brevipennis Latin
- brevirictus Latin
- brevirostris Latin
- brevis Latin
- brevisetus Latin
- brevitarsis Latin
- brevitas Latin
- breviter Latin
- brevitertius Latin
- brevithorax Latin
- brūma Latin
- perbrevis Latin
- tribrevis Latin
- Ablassbrief German
- Abschiedsbrief German
- Beschwerdebrief German
- Bittbrief German
- Brandbrief German
- Brief German
- Briefbombe German
- Brieffreund German
- Brieffreundin German
- Briefgeheimnis German
- Briefkasten German
- Briefkopf German
- Briefmarke German
- Briefpapier German
- Briefstreicher German
- Brieftaube German
- Briefumschlag German
- Briefwechsel German
- Drohbrief German
- Liebesbrief German
- Pfandbrief German
- Rundbrief German
- Rückscheinbrief German
- Sendbrief German
- breve Italian
- breve Dutch, Flemish
- борзо́й Russian
- breve Spanish, Castilian
- βραχίων Ancient Greek
- βραχύς Ancient Greek
- *mreǵʰ- Proto-Indo-European
- *mréǵʰus Proto-Indo-European
- breve Portuguese
- *murgijaz Proto-Germanic
- *murguz Proto-Germanic
- ブリーフ Japanese
- breef Middle English
- breefly Middle English
- bref Middle English
- breffnes Middle English
- brevet Middle English
- bréf Old Norse
- bref Old French
- brief Old French
- briefment Old French
- briement Old French
- brieve Old French
- brief Middle Dutch
- briaf Old High German
- breib Old Irish
- brief Middle High German
- brief Middle French
- *breɣʷis Proto-Italic
- brif Silesian