Brille

See also: brille and brillé

German

Etymology

From Middle High German brille, berille, from berillus (“beryl”), from Latin beryllus (“beryl”). Compare dialectal English brills (“spectacles”).

Meaning 3 ("toilet seat") is derived in analogy with the usually round shape of spectacle frames surrounding the glass, just as a toilet seat surrounds the toilet hole.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbʁɪlə/

• Audio (Austria):

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• Audio:

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Noun

Brille f (genitive Brille, plural Brillen)

1. (pair of) glasses, spectacles (frames bearing two lenses worn in front of the eyes to correct vision)
   • 1919, Walther Kabel, Irrende Seelen, Werner Dietsch Verlag, page 42:

     In einer Seitenstraße kaufte ich mir bei einem Optiker eine billige, blaue Brille und setzte sie sofort auf.

     In a side street, I bought a cheap, blue pair of glasses at an optician and immediately put them on.

2. (pair of) goggles (protective eyewear set in a flexible frame to fit snugly against the face)
3. toilet seat (hinged, contoured seat with a hole in the middle, of a toilet)
4. (medicine) nasal cannula for oxygen (clear plastic tubes for the delivery of oxygen to the nose)

Declension

Declension of Brille [feminine]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	eine	die	Brille	die	Brillen
genitive	einer	der	Brille	der	Brillen
dative	einer	der	Brille	den	Brillen
accusative	eine	die	Brille	die	Brillen

Derived terms

• Brillenschlange
• Klobrille
• Lesebrille
• Nickelbrille
• Schwimmbrille
• Sonnenbrille
• WC-Brille

Descendants

• → Czech: brýle
• → Danish: briller (pl.)
• → Kashubian: brële
• → Lower Sorbian: bryla
• → Polish: bryle
• → Swedish: brillor (pl.)

Further reading

• “Brille” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “Brille” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “Brille” in Duden online
• Brille on the German Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^de

Pennsylvania German

Noun

Brille

1. plural of Brill