braggart

English

WOTD – 28 March 2018

Etymology

From Middle French bragard (“bragging, flaunting, vain", also "a showy, arrogant individual”), from braguer (“to boast, brag”). No firm relation to English brag has been established.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈbɹæɡɑːt/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈbɹæɡɚt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: brag‧gart

Noun

braggart (plural braggarts)

1. Someone who constantly brags or boasts. [from late 16th c.]

   Synonyms: bragger; see also Thesaurus:braggart

   • c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii], page 148, column 1:

     O I could play the woman with mine eyes, / And Braggart with my tongue.

   • 1889, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “Of the Welcome that Met Me at Badminton”, in Micah Clarke His Statement as Made to His Three Grandchildren Joseph, Gervas, & Reuben during the Hard Winter of 1734 [...], London: Longmans, Green and Co. and New York, 15 East 15th Street, →OCLC, page 256:

     Shallow water gives a great splash, and so a braggart has ever been contemptible in my eyes.

   • 1922 July, Emily Post, “Conversation”, in Etiquette in Society, in Business, in Politics, and at Home, New York, N.Y.: Funk & Wagnalls, published October 1923, →OCLC, page 56:

     A very good resolve to make and keep, if you would also keep any friends you make, is never to speak of anyone without, in imagination, having them overhear what you say. One often hears the exclamation “I would say it to her face!” At least be very sure that this is true, and not a braggart’s phrase and then—nine times out of ten think better of it and refrain.

Alternative forms

• braggard

Related terms

• brag
• bragging (noun)
• braggingly

Translations

one who constantly brags or boasts

• Bashkir: маҡтансыҡ (maqtansıq)
• Catalan: fanfarró (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 吹牛的 (zh) (chuīniú de), 牛皮大王 (niúpí dàwáng)

• Chuvash: мухтанчӑк (muhtanč̬ăk), вӗҫкӗн (vĕśkĕn)
• Czech: chvastoun (cs) m
• Dutch: pocher (nl), aansteller (nl), snoever (nl)
• Esperanto: fanfaronulo
• Finnish: rehentelijä (fi), leuhkija
• French: bravache (fr) m, fanfaron (fr) m, fier-à-bras (fr) m, hâbleur (fr) m, matamore (fr) m, rodomont (fr) m, vantard (fr) m
• Galician: chaíñas m, milhomes m, badúa m, farfallán, farfantón, alarbio m, langrán (gl) m
• German: Angeber (de) m, Angeberin (de) f, Maulheld (de) m (informal), Maulheldin f (informal)
• Gothic: 𐌱𐌹𐌷𐌰𐌹𐍄𐌾𐌰 m (bihaitja)
• Greek: καυχηματίας (el) m (kafchimatías), κομπαστής (el) m (kompastís)

  Ancient: ἀλαζών m or f (alazṓn), κομπαστής m (kompastḗs)

• Irish: bladhmaire m, bollaire m, bragaire m, bumaire m, floscaí m, gaiscíoch m
• Italian: fanfarone (it) m, ballista (it), ammazzasette
• Japanese: 内弁慶 (ja) (うちべんけい, uchibenkei)
• Latin: salacō m, iactātor m
• Macedonian: фалба́џија m (falbádžija), фале́ничар m (faléničar), пр́чко m (pŕčko), само́фалец m (samófalec)
• Maori: pīho, rangiwhata, waha rera, pākiwaha
• Norman: braidgeux m (Jersey), cratcheux m (Jersey), vantard m (Jersey)
• Portuguese: fanfarrão (pt) m, gabarola (pt) m or f
• Romanian: lăudăros (ro) m, fanfaron (ro) m
• Russian: хвасту́н (ru) m (xvastún), хвасту́нья (ru) f (xvastúnʹja), фанфаро́н (ru) m (fanfarón), самохва́л (ru) m (samoxvál)
• Sicilian: minchiataru m
• Spanish: fanfarria m, fanfarrón (es) m, fantasma (es) m, baladrón (es), bravucón (es), matasiete
• Swedish: skrytmåns (sv) c

Adjective

braggart (comparative more braggart, superlative most braggart)

1. Characterized by boasting; boastful.
   • 1733, [Alexander Pope], The Impertinent, or A Visit to the Court. A Satyr. By an Eminent Hand‎^[1], London: Printed for John Wileord,^{[sic – meaning Wilford]} behind the Chapter-house near St. Paul's, →OCLC, archived from the original on 9 January 2018, page 13:

     O my fair Mistress, Truth! Shall I quit thee, / For huffing, braggart, puft Nobility?

   • 1837, Washington Irving, chapter VII, in Adventures of Captain Bonneville, or Scenes beyond the Rocky Mountains of the Far West, Paris: Published by A. and W. Galignani and Co., rue Vivienne, No. 18, →OCLC, page 49:

     Captain [Benjamin] Bonneville was delighted with the game look of these cavaliers of the mountains, welcomed them heartily to his camp, and ordered a free allowance of grog to regale them, which soon put them in the most braggart spirits.

   • 1882, William D[ean] Howells, chapter VI, in A Modern Instance: A Novel, Boston, Mass.: James R. Osgood and Company, →OCLC, page 70:

     He took him on the long walks of which he was fond, and made him in some sort his humble confidant, talking to him of himself and his plans with large and braggart vagueness.

Translations

characterized by boasting — see boastful

Further reading

• boasting on Wikipedia.Wikipedia