bra

See also: BRA, brá, brà, Brá, -bra, and brå

Translingual

Symbol

bra

1. (international standards) ISO 639-2 & ISO 639-3 language code for Braj.

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English

bra

Alternative forms

• brassiere, brassière (dated)

Pronunciation

• enPR: brä, IPA^(key): /bɹɑː/
• (Ireland): IPA^(key): /bɹæ/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑː

Etymology 1

Clipping of brassiere, borrowed from French brassière, from Old French braciere (originally a lining inside armor to protect the arm, but later a garment), from Old French brace (“arm”), from Latin bracchia, plural of Latin bracchium (“forearm”), from Ancient Greek βραχίων (brakhíōn, “forearm”), from Proto-Hellenic *brəkʰús (“short”) (because the forearm is shorter than the upper arm), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *mréǵʰus.

Noun

bra (plural bras)

1. An item of underwear worn to support the breasts. [from 1920s]
   • 1968, Carl Ruhen, The Key Club, Scripts, page 12:

     Her housecoat had fallen open. She was wearing only panties and bra, which did nothing to make her scrawny, wrinkled body appealing.

Derived terms

Derived terms

• balconette bra
• balcony bra
• bullet bra
• cantilever bra
• jog bra
• jogging bra
• long-line bra
• maternity bra
• nursing bra

• peek-a-boo bra
• plunge bra
• pocket bra
• push-up bra
• shelf bra
• sports bra
• training bra
• T-shirt bra
• underwired bra

Translations

brassiere

• Afrikaans: bra (af), buustelyfie
• Albanian: gjimbajtëse f, sutienë f
• Apache:

  Western Apache: ibeʼbenastʼiʼí

• Arabic: حَمَّالَة صَدْر‎ f (ḥammālat ṣadr), مِشَدّ صَدْر‎ m (mišadd ṣadr)

  Egyptian Arabic: ستيان‎ m (sutyān)

  Hijazi Arabic: سُتيانة‎ f (sutyāna)

• Armenian: կրծկալ (hy) (krckal), լիֆչիկ (hy) (lifčʿik)
• Asturian: apertador m, sostén m
• Azerbaijani: lifçik, büstqalter
• Bashkir: күкрәксә (kükräksä)
• Basque: bularretako (eu)
• Belarusian: бюстга́льтар m (bjusthálʹtar), ста́нік m (stánik), лі́фчык m (lífčyk)
• Bengali: বক্ষবন্ধনী (bôkkhbôndhni), কাচুলি (kaculi), ব্রা (bra)
• Bulgarian: сутие́н (bg) m (sutién)
• Burmese: ဘရာစီယာ (my) (bha.raciya)
• Catalan: sostenidors (ca) m pl
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 奶罩 (zh) (nǎizhào), 胸罩 (zh) (xiōngzhào), 乳罩 (zh) (rǔzhào)

  Min Nan: 奶帕仔 (ling-phè-á/ni-phè-á)

• Czech: podprsenka (cs) f
• Danish: brystholder (da), bh (da) c, (underwired bra) bøjle-bh c
• Dutch: bustehouder (nl) m, beha (nl) m
• Esperanto: mamzono, mamingo
• Estonian: rinnahoidja (et)
• Faroese: brósthaldari m
• Finnish: rintaliivit (fi) pl
• French: soutien-gorge (fr) m, (popular) soutif (fr), (dated) brassière (fr) f
• Georgian: ლიფი (lipi), აზღუდი (azɣudi), ბიუსტჰალტერი (biusṭhalṭeri)
• German: Büstenhalter (de) m, (abbreviation) BH (de) m, (colloquial) Busenhalter m
• Greek: στηθόδεσμος (el) m (stithódesmos)

  Ancient: στρόφιον n (stróphion)

• Hebrew: חֲזִיָה \ חזייה‎ (he) f (khaziyá)
• Hindi: ब्रेजिअर (brejiar), ब्रा (brā), अँगिया (hi) f (aṅgiyā), ब्रेजियर (brejiyar)
• Hungarian: melltartó (hu), mt (abbreviation)
• Icelandic: brjóstahaldari
• Indonesian: kutang (id), beha (id)
• Irish: cíochbheart (ga) m
• Italian: reggiseno (it) m, reggipetto (it) m
• Japanese: ブラジャー (ja) (burajā), ブラ (ja) (bura), 乳押さえ (ちちおさえ, chichiosae) (obsolete)
• Kazakh: емшекқап (emşekqap)
• Khmer: អាវទ្រនាប់ (ʼaaw trɔnŏəp), អាវស៊ូជាង (ʼaaw suuciəng)
• Korean: 브래지어 (ko) (beuraejieo), 브라 (ko) (beura)
• Kyrgyz: лифчик (lifçik), бюстгальтер (byustğalʹter)
• Lao: ເສື້ອຊ້ອນ (lo) (sư̄a sǭn), ອ້ຽງ (ʼīang)
• Latin: strophium n, cestus m
• Latvian: krūšturis m
• Lithuanian: liemenėlė f
• Luxembourgish: Soutien m
• Macedonian: гра́дник m (grádnik), пр́слук m (pŕsluk)
• Malay: bra, coli
• Maltese: riċipettu m
• Manx: coodagh keeagh
• Maori: pari

• Mongolian:

  хөхний даруулга (khökhnii daruulga) ᠬᠥᠬᠦᠨ ᠦ
  ᠳᠠᠷᠤᠭᠤᠯᠭ᠎ᠠ (kökün-ü daruɣulɣ-a) (official)

  лифчик (mn) m (lifchik) ᠯᠢᠹᠼᠢᠺ (lifcig) (popular)

  хөхөвч (mn) m (khökhövch) ᠬᠥᠬᠦᠪᠴᠢ (kökübči) (standard in Inner Mongolia)

• Ngazidja Comorian: katshiri
• Norman: brâssiéthe f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: brystholder m, bysteholder m, behå m, BH (no) m, bh m

  Nynorsk: brysthaldar m, bystehaldar m, behå m, BH (no) m

• Persian: پستان بند‎ (fa) (pestân band), سوتین‎ (fa) (sutiyan), کرست‎ (fa) (korset)
• Plautdietsch: Brosthaulta m
• Polish: biustonosz (pl) m, stanik (pl) m
• Portuguese: sutiã (pt) m
• Romanian: sutien (ro) n
• Russian: бюстга́льтер (ru) m (bjustgálʹter), ли́фчик (ru) m (lífčik)
• Rwanda-Rundi: isutiye
• Scottish Gaelic: uchd-aodach m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: грудњак m

  Roman: grudnjak (sh) m

• Silesian: lojbik m
• Sinhalese: තනපට (tanapaṭa)
• Slovak: podprsenka (sk) f
• Slovene: nedrček (sl) m
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: nadrac m

  Upper Sorbian: nadrowc m

• Spanish: ajustador (es) m (Cuba), brasier m (Central America, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Puerto Rico), corpiño (es) m (Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay), sostén (es) m (now especially Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Venezuela), soutien m (Uruguay), sujetador (es) m (Spain)
• Swahili: sidiria (sw), kanchiri (sw)
• Swedish: behå (sv), bh (sv) c, bysthållare (sv), brösthållare
• Tagalog: bra (tl)
• Tajik: лифчик (lifčik)
• Tamil: மார்புக்கச்சை (mārpukkaccai)
• Tatar: күкрәкчә (tt) (kükräkçä)
• Telugu: బ్రా (te) (brā)
• Thai: ยกทรง (th) (yók-song)
• Tibetan: ནུ་ཤུབ། (nu shub)
• Tok Pisin: banis bilong susu
• Turkish: sütyen (tr), sutyen (tr)
• Turkmen: göwüslik, lifçik
• Ukrainian: бюстга́льтер (uk) m (bjusthálʹter), лі́фчик m (lífčyk), ста́ник m (stányk)
• Urdu: برا‎ (brā), بریجئر‎ (brejiar)
• Uyghur: لىپتىك‎ (liptik)
• Uzbek: siynaband (uz), ko'krakpech, lifchik (uz), byustgalter
• Vietnamese: xu-chiêng, xu chiêng (vi), nịt vú (regional)
• Volapük: dögipolian, dögistütian
• Welsh: bra m, bras (cy) m pl
• West Frisian: boarststipe, beha
• Yiddish: סטאַניק‎ (stanik)
• Zazaki: sıtyen

Etymology 2

From bracket, referring to the notation introduced in 1939 by Paul Dirac.

Noun

bra (plural bras)

1. (physics) One of the two vectors in the standard notation for describing quantum states in quantum mechanics, the other being the ket.

Antonyms

• ket

Related terms

• bra-ket notation

Translations

Translations

• Finnish: bra (fi)
• German: Bra n

• Polish: bra (pl) f

Etymology 3

Representing a different pronunciation of bro (“brother”).

Noun

bra (plural bras)

1. (slang) Alternative form of bro; friend, mate

   Take it easy, bra!

   • 2009, Todd Johnson, Influence

     “Famalam, I ain't even gon lie to ya man, I am super happy to be finally maxing out on parole my real. This violation was definitely a reality check Bra!” Influence replied to his comrade.

Further reading

• bra on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• ABR, ARB, Arb., Bar, Bar., RBA, Rab, abr., arb, bar, bar-

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Afrikaans

Etymology

Borrowed from English bra.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /brɑː/

Noun

bra (plural bra's)

1. bra, brassiere
2. (Cape Afrikaans) bro, brah, bruh

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Cebuano

Etymology

From English bra, shortened from brassiere, from French brassière.

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: bra

Noun

bra

1. a bra; a brassiere

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:bra.

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Garo

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

bra

1. arrow

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Haitian Creole

Etymology

From French bras (“arm”)

Noun

bra

1. arm

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Khotanese

Adjective

bra

1. dear

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Norman

Alternative forms

• brâs (continental Normandy)
• bras (Jersey, Guernsey)

Etymology

From Old French bras, from Vulgar Latin *bracium, from Classical Latin bracchium, from Ancient Greek βραχίων (brakhíōn).

Noun

bra m (plural bras)

1. (Sark, anatomy) arm

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Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

Borrowed from French brave.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɾɑː/

Adjective

bra (indeclinable, comparative bedre, indefinite superlative best, definite superlative beste)

1. good, fine

Derived terms

• kjempebra

Adverb

bra

1. well

See also

• god
• vel

References

• “bra” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

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Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

Borrowed from French brave.

Adjective

bra (indeclinable, comparative betre, indefinite superlative best, definite superlative beste)

1. good, fine

Derived terms

• kjempebra

See also

• god
• vel

References

• “bra” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

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Scots

Etymology 1

Borrowed from braf (“good, brave”); from Low German brav; from French brave, borrowed from Italian bravo.

Adjective

bra (comparative mair bra, superlative maist bra)

1. Very good or agreeable.

See also

• guid
• braw

Etymology 2

Borrowed from bra, shortened from brassiere.

Noun

bra (plural bras)

1. An item of underwear worn to support the breasts.

See also

• bra

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Swedish

Etymology

Since at least 1621, from braf (“good, brave”); from Low German brav; from French brave, borrowed from Italian bravo.

Pronunciation

• audio

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /brɑː/, /brɒː/

Adjective

bra (comparative bättre, superlative bäst)

1. good

Declension

Inflection of bra
Indefinite	Positive	Comparative	Superlative2
Common singular	bra	bättre	bäst
Neuter singular	bra	bättre	bäst
Plural	bra	bättre	bäst
Masculine plural3	bra	bättre	bäst
Definite	Positive	Comparative	Superlative
Masculine singular1	bra	bättre	bäste
All	bra	bättre	bästa
1) Only used, optionally, to refer to things whose natural gender is masculine. 2) The indefinite superlative forms are only used in the predicative. 3) Dated or archaic

Usage notes

In informal (often jocular or childish) contexts, bäst may be inflected further and given the comparative bästare (bester) and the superlative bästast, bästaste (bestest); these forms are also nonstandard.

Adverb

bra (comparative bättre, superlative bäst)

1. well

See also

• väl
• god

Anagrams

• -bar, bar

Further reading

• bra in Svensk ordbok.

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Yola

Etymology

From Middle French brave, borrowed from Italian bravo, itself of uncertain origin (see there).

Adjective

bra

1. brave

References

• Jacob Poole (1867), William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, page 27

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Zazaki

Alternative forms

• bira
• bıra

Etymology

Compare Persian برادر‎ (barâdar).

Noun

bra

1. brother