Wordwyrt

briar

/bˈɹaɪə/BRIGH-ur
/bˈɹaɪɚ/BRIGH-ur

Meaningthorny plant

Common meaning: prickly shrub

Journey through time

  1. Old Englishbrēr‘thorny plant’sourceB&T
  2. Middle Englishbreresource
  3. Englishmeaning shiftsthorny plant → prickly shrubbriar‘prickly shrub’ · today

Sources & notes

Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.

Pronunciation

  • UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
  • No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
  • US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
  • No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.

Origin: Built on Old English brēr ‘thorny plant’.

Roots

  • brēr Old English “thorny plant”

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