brave

English

Etymology

French brave, borrowed from Italian bravo, itself either from Provençal brau 'show-off', from Gaulish *bragos (compare Middle Irish breagha (modern breá) 'fine', Breton braga 'to strut') or from Latin *bravus, from a fusion of pravus and barbarus into a root *bravus.

Pronunciation

• enPR: brāv, IPA: /breɪv/, SAMPA: /breIv/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪv

Adjective

brave (comparative braver, superlative bravest)

1. Strong in the face of fear; courageous.
   • 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula Chapter 21

     "Do not fret, dear. You must be brave and strong, and help me through the horrible task. If you only knew what an effort it is to me to tell of this fearful thing at all, you would understand how much I need your help.

   • 1987, Michael Grumley, The Last Diary:

     […] he has been so brave, giving it all a dignity.

Synonyms

• courageous
• resilient
• stalwart
• See also Wikisaurus:brave

Antonyms

• cowardly
• mean
• weak

Translations

strong in the face of fear

Aleut: u-na Arabic: شجاع (ar) (šujāʿ), جريء (ar) (jarīʾ) Armenian: քաջ (hy) (k’aǰ) Belarusian: храбры (be) (xrábry), адважны (be) (advážny), смелы (be) (smély) Bulgarian: храбър (bg) (hrábǎr), смел (bg) (smel) Catalan: valent (ca), coratjós (ca) Chinese: Gan: 有量 (îu liòng), 勇敢 (iûng-gôn), 猛 (mûng), 敢 (gôn), 俹 (ngâ) Mandarin: 勇敢 (cmn) (yǒnggǎn) Czech: odvážný (cs) m., statečný (cs) m. Dutch: moedig (nl) Esperanto: brava (eo) Faroese: djarvur (fo) m. Finnish: rohkea (fi), urhea (fi), reipas (fi) French: courageux (fr) m., courageuse (fr) f. German: tapfer (de), mutig (de) Greek: γενναίος (el) (gennaíos) Hebrew: אמיץ (he) (amytz) m., אמיצה (he) (amitza) f. Hindi: बहादुर (hi) (bahādur) Hungarian: bátor (hu) Ido: brava (io) Indonesian: berani (id) Italian: coraggioso (it) m., ardito (it) m., baldo (it) m., audace (it) m., valoroso (it) m.

Japanese: 勇敢な (ja) (yūkan-na), 勇気ある (ja) (yūki aru)(used as adnominal only), 勇猛な (ja) (yūmō-na) Khmer: ក្លាហាន (km) (klaa haan) Korean: 용감한 (ko) (yonggam-han) Kurdish: ئازا, قاره‌مان Luxembourgish: daper (lb), couragéiert (lb) Macedonian: храбар (mk) (hrábar) Persian: شجاع (fa) (šojâ') Polish: odważny (pl) m., chrobry (pl) Portuguese: bravo (pt) m., brava (pt) f. Russian: храбрый (ru) (xrábryj), смелый (ru) (smélyj), отважный (ru) (otvážnyj) Scottish Gaelic: misneachail (gd) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: храбар (sh) Roman: hrabar (sh) Slovak: odvážny (sk), statočný (sk) Slovene: pogumen (sl) m., hraber (sl) m. Spanish: valiente (es) Swedish: modig (sv) Tagalog: matapang (tl) Thai: กล้าหาญ (th) (glâa hăan), กล้า (th) (glâa) Ukrainian: хоробрий (uk) (xoróbryj), відважний (uk) (vidvážnyj) Urdu: بهادر (ur) (bahādur) Vietnamese: dũng cảm (vi) (勇敢 (vi))

Noun

brave (plural braves)

1. A Native American warrior.

Translations

native American warrior

Finnish: intiaanisoturi (fi)

Verb

brave (third-person singular simple present braves, present participle braving, simple past and past participle braved)

1. To encounter with courage and fortitude, to defy
2. To overcome one's initial fear(s).

   After braving tricks on the high-dive, he braved a jump off the first diving platform.

Translations

• Bulgarian: излизам насреща на, предизвиквам
• Finnish: kohdata rohkeasti

Derived terms

• bravely
• bravery
• bravure

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French

Etymology

Probably borrowed from Italian bravo, itself from a Latin *bravus, a fusion of prāvus and barbarus. Cf. Spanish, Portuguese bravo.

Pronunciation

• audio

  (file)

Adjective

brave (epicene, plural braves)

1. brave
2. honest

Synonyms

• courageux
• bon
• honnête
• preux

Noun

brave m. (plural braves)

1. hero

Related terms

• bravache
• bravade
• bravement
• braver
• bravoure

Anagrams

• baver

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Italian

Adjective

brave f. pl.

1. feminine plural form of bravo