bravo

See also: bravó, bravò, and Bravo

English

Etymology

From Italian bravo.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɹɑvoʊ/, /bɹɑˈvoʊ/
• IPA^(key): /ˈbɹɑːvəʊ/, /bɹɑːˈvəʊ/
• Rhymes: -ɑːvəʊ, Rhymes: -əʊ

• Audio (CA):

  (file)

Noun

bravo (plural bravos or bravoes)

1. A hired soldier; an assassin; a desperado.
   • 1753, Theophilus Cibber, The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland (1753)‎^[1]:

     As for Rochester, he had not genius enough to enter the lists with Dryden, so he fell upon another method of revenge; and meanly hired bravoes to assault him.

   • 1911, H. Rider Haggard, Red Eve‎^[2]:

     "Why should I fight the King of England's bravoes?" inquired Acour in a languid voice of those who stood about him, a question at which they laughed.

   • 1953, Raymond Chandler, The Long Goodbye, Penguin 2010, page 104:

     Because the headache will always be there, a weapon that never wears out and is as deadly as the bravo’s rapier or Lucrezia's poison vial.

2. A shout of "bravo!"
   • 1907, Kate Dickinson Sweetser, Boys and girls from Thackeray‎^[3]:

     There was a roar of bravoes rang through the house; Pen bellowing with the loudest.

3. The letter B in the ICAO spelling alphabet.

Synonyms

• (hired soldier): see Thesaurus:mercenary

Translations

the letter "B"

• Estonian: Berta
• Finnish: Bertta (fi)
• French: Berthe (fr)
• German: Berta (de)
• Italian: Bologna (it), Bari (it)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Romanian: bravo (ro)
• Russian: Бори́с (ru) (Borís)
• Spanish: Barcelona (es)
• Swedish: Bertil (sv)

Interjection

bravo!

1. Used to express acclaim, especially to a performer.

   Bravo, you have done a brilliant job!

Usage notes

Sometimes the (non-anglicized) Italian female form brava is used for a woman, and the Italian plural forms brave (feminine) and bravi (masculine or mixed).

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:well done

Related terms

• bravissimo

Translations

interjection

• Arabic: بْرَافُو (brāvo), بِرَافُو (berāvo)

  Egyptian Arabic: براڤو (brāvo, barāvu), عفارم (ʿafārem) (archaic)

• Assamese: বাঃ (bah), চাবাচ (sabas)
• Danish: bravo
• Esperanto: brave (eo)
• Finnish: hyvä (fi)
• French: bravo (fr)
• Georgian: ყოჩაღ (ka) (q̇očaɣ)
• Greek: μπράβο (el) (brávo)
• Hindi: शाबाश (hi) (śābāś)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: bravo (it) m, bene (it), ben fatto!
• Japanese: 天晴れ (ja) (appare), ブラボー (burabō)
• Latin: mactē
• Persian: براوو (fa) (brâvo)
• Polish: brawo (pl)
• Portuguese: bravo (pt)
• Romanian: bravo (ro)
• Russian: бра́во (ru) (brávo)
• Swedish: bravo (sv)
• Vietnamese: hoan hô (vi)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Central Kurdish: ^{(please verify)} ئافەرین (aferîn), ^{(please verify)} ئافەریم (aferîm)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

Verb

bravo (third-person singular simple present bravos, present participle bravoing, simple past and past participle bravoed)

1. To cheer or applaud, especially by saying bravo!
   • 1910, May Agnes Fleming, The Baronet's Bride‎^[4]:

     "And my Sunbeam was bravoed, and encored, and crowned with flowers, was she not?"

   • 1899, Richard Le Gallienne, Young Lives‎^[5]:

     Together they had bravoed the great tragedians, and together hopelessly worshipped the beautiful faces, enskied and sainted, of famous actresses.

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French

Etymology

From Italian bravo.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bʁa.vo/

• Audio:

  (file)

Interjection

bravo

1. bravo!, hear, hear!, well said!, well done!

Noun

bravo m (plural bravos)

1. (in the plural) applause, cheers
2. swordsman

   Synonym: spadassin

Related terms

• bravache
• bravade
• brave
• bravement
• braver
• bravoure

Further reading

• “bravo”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

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Galician

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɾaβo̝/

Etymology 1

From Old Galician and Old Galician-Portuguese bravo, from Latin barbarus, which was frequently found in Galician medieval Latin documentation with the meaning of "uncultivated, fallow". Alternatively from Vulgar Latin *bravus or *brabus, from a fusion of Latin prāvus and barbarus.

Adjective

bravo (feminine brava, masculine plural bravos, feminine plural bravas)

1. uncultivated, harsh, rough (when referring to a land)
   • 1334, M. Lucas Alvarez & P. P. Lucas Domínguez (eds. ), San Pedro de Ramirás. Un monasterio femenino en la Edad Media. Santiago: Caixa Galicia, page 487:

     et nos dedes delle en cada ano terça do pan e do viño, e de lino e de liguma do feytuo, e do monte bravo que aromperdes

     and you'll give us each year a third of the grain and of the wine, of the flax, and of the pulses, and of the uncultivated lands that you could plough up

2. wild, spontaneous (when referring to a plant)

   Synonym: ventureiro

3. wild, untamed (when referring to an animal)

   Synonym: salvaxe

4. harsh, fierce
   • 1364, Clara Rodríguez Núñez (ed.), "Santa María de Belvís, un convento mendicante femenino en la Baja Edad Media (1305-1400)", Estudios Mindonienses, 5, page 441:

     son ende quatro boys, dous bravos et dous massos

     there are four oxen: two are fierce and two are meek

   Synonym: fero

5. strong (when referring to a beverage) or hot spicy

   Synonym: forte

6. bold, valiant

   Synonyms: afouto, arriscado, valente

Derived terms

• besta brava (“wild horse”)
• Bravos
• porco bravo (“wild pig”)
• faneca brava (“lesser weever”)

Related terms

• bravádego (“copse”)
• braveiro (“sprout”)
• braveza (“braveness”)
• bravío (“wild”)
• bravún (“the odour of a wild animal”)
• bravura (“braveness”)
• embravecer (“to infuriate”)

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Italian bravo.

Interjection

bravo!

1. bravo!

References

• Template:R:DDGM
• Template:R:DDLG
• Template:R:TILG
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “bravo”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

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Italian

Etymology

Uncertain. Probably from Vulgar Latin *bravus, from a fusion of Latin prāvus and barbarus. Less likely from Provençal brau (“show-off”), from Gaulish *bragos (compare Middle Irish breagha (modern breá) 'fine', Breton braga 'to strut'). Or else misread from Latin brana, from Old French brahaigne (“barren”) (see barren). Or perhaps borrowed from a descendant of Proto-Germanic *hrawaz (“raw, uncooked”). Or possibly from a root *bravus, from bravium. Borrowed into French and English as brave.

Adjective

(superlative bravissimo)

1. (used before the noun) good, well-behaved
2. good, skilful, capable, clever, fine
3. good, obedient
4. (obsolete) brave, bold
5. (obsolete, of animals) wild, untamed
6. (obsolete, of places) harsh

Related terms

• bravaccio
• bravamente
• bravare
• bravata
• bravazzo
• braveria
• bravino
• bravura

Interjection

bravo! m (f brava!, m pl bravi!, f pl brave!)

1. well done!, good show!
2. (theater) bravo!

References

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Portuguese

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɾa.vu/
• Hyphenation: bra‧vo

Etymology 1

From Old Galician-Portuguese bravo, possibly from Vulgar Latin *bravus or *brabus, from a fusion of Latin prāvus and barbarus.

Adjective

1. valiant, courageous
2. uneducated, uncivilized
3. furious, annoyed
4. prone to irritation, easily angered, bad-tempered, choleric
5. rigorous, authoritarian
6. (of a person, or situation) difficult, unmanageable
7. (of an animal) undomesticated
8. (of a plant, or vegetable) spontaneous, weed
9. (of the land) uncultivated
10. (of the sea) stormy
11. (hypercorrect) Alternative form of brabo

Inflection

Synonyms

• (courageous): valente, destemido, corajoso
• (uncivilized): bárbaro, rude, grosseiro
• (furious): furioso, irado, raivoso, enraivecido, brabo
• (bad-tempered): genioso, irritadiço, brabo
• (rigorous): rígido, rigoroso, severo, brabo
• (difficult): ruço, difícil, brabo
• (undomesticated animal): bravio, silvestre, brabo
• (spontaneous weed): espontâneo
• (uncultivated land): bravio, inculto
• (stormy sea): tempestuoso, brabo

Derived terms

• brabo
• bravamente
• braveza
• bravio
• bravura
• coelho-bravo
• embravecer

 

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Italian bravo.

Interjection

1. bravo! well done!

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Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɾabo/ [ˈbɾa.β̞o]

Etymology 1

From Old Spanish bravo, possibly from Vulgar Latin *bravus or *brabus, from a fusion of Latin prāvus and barbarus (or from metathesis of an intermediate form *babru-).

Adjective

bravo (feminine brava, masculine plural bravos, feminine plural bravas) (superlative bravísimo)

1. angry, furious
2. bold, courageous
3. skilful, capable, clever, fine
4. good, excellent
5. agitated (sea)

Synonyms

• (courageous): valiente
• (furious): fiero, salvaje (animal)
• (angry): enojado, enfadado,, mañoso

Derived terms

• a la brava
• bravamente
• salsa brava
• toro bravo

Related terms

• bravear
• bravero
• braveza
• bravío
• bravucón
• bravura
• desbravar
• embravecer

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Italian bravo.

Interjection

¡bravo!

1. (in general use) well done!, good show!
2. (at the theatre, etc) bravo!

Further reading

• “bravo”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014

References