breve

See also: brève, brêve, and brevê

English

The letter A with breve (1).

Left: breve (2) in modern notation. Centre: breve in mensural notation used in some modern scores as well. Right: less common stylistic variant of the first form.

Etymology 1

From Middle English breve, variant of bref, from Old French brieve, breve (feminine form of brief, bref), from Latin brevis (“short”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɹiːv/, /bɹɛv/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːv, -ɛv

Noun

breve (plural breves)

1. (orthography, printing) A semicircular diacritical mark (˘) placed above a vowel, commonly used to mark its quantity as short.

   Synonym: micron

   Antonym: macron

2. (music) A double whole note; a note twice as long as a semibreve.
3. (law) Any writ or precept under seal, issued out of any court.
4. (zoology) A pitta, all of which have more or less short tails.

Derived terms

• alla breve
• breve rest
• espresso breve
• i-breve
• inverted breve
• semibreve

 

Related terms

• brevity
• brief

 

Translations

semicircular diacritical mark

• Catalan: breu (ca) m
• Dutch: breve (nl) c
• Esperanto: hoketo, lunarko
• Finnish: lyhyysmerkki (fi), breve (fi)
• German: Breve (de) n, Verkürzungszeichen n
• Greek: βραχεία (el) f (vracheía)

  Ancient: (ἡ) βραχεῖα (προσῳδία) f ((hē) brakheîa (prosōidía))

• Hungarian: breve (hu), félkör (hu), (somewhat casual) rövidségjel, rövidjel, csónak (hu)
• Icelandic: skál (is) f
• Japanese: 短音記号 (tan'on kigō)
• Latin: signum correptionis n
• Portuguese: braquia m
• Russian: кра́тка (ru) f (krátka), бре́ве (ru) n (bréve), бре́вис m (brévis)
• Spanish: acento breve f
• Vietnamese: dấu trăng, dấu mũ ngược

double whole note

• Basque: karratu
• Catalan: quadrada (ca) f, breu (ca)
• Czech: brevis (cs)
• Dutch: brevis c
• Estonian: brevis (et)
• Finnish: brevis (fi)
• French: carrée (fr) f
• Galician: cadrada f
• German: Brevis (de) f, Doppelganze f, Doppelganzenote f
• Hungarian: brevis (hu)
• Irish: lán-nóta dúbailte m
• Italian: breve (it) f
• Slovene: ^{(please verify)} celinka f
• Spanish: cuadrada (es) f
• Swedish: brevisnot c
• Vietnamese: dấu tròn đôi

See also

• brachy
• half note
• longa
• whole note

Etymology 2

From Italian breve.

Noun

breve (plural breves)

1. An equal mix of espresso and half and half cream.

Further reading

• Breve (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Bever, bever

Danish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /breːvə/, [ˈb̥ʁeːvə], [ˈb̥ʁeːw̩]

Noun

breve n pl

1. indefinite plural of brev

Dutch

Etymology

From Latin brevis (“short”). This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbreː.və/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: bre‧ve
• Rhymes: -eːvə

Noun

breve f (plural breves, diminutive brevetje n)

1. (orthography) breve

Anagrams

• bever

Galician

Etymology

From Latin brevis.

Adjective

breve m or f (plural breves)

1. brief

Derived terms

• brevemente

Related terms

• abreviar
• brevidade

Further reading

• “breve” in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega, Royal Galician Academy.

Interlingua

Adjective

breve (comparative plus breve, superlative le plus breve)

1. short

Italian

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin brevis (“short”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbrɛ.ve/
• Rhymes: -ɛve
• Hyphenation: brè‧ve

Adjective

breve (plural brevi)

1. brief, short

   Synonym: corto

   Antonym: lungo

   Il mese è breve. ― The month is short.

2. (literary) narrow

   Synonyms: angusto, stretto

   Antonyms: ampio, largo

3. (prosody) short

Derived terms

• a breve / tra breve
• brevemente
• brevità
• in breve

 

Adverb

breve

1. (literary) briefly

   Synonym: brevemente

Noun

breve f (plural brevi)

1. (prosody) short (short vowel or syllable)
2. (typography) breve (the diacritical mark ˘)
3. (music) breve (double whole note)

Derived terms

• dibreve

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Medieval Latin breve, from Latin brevis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbrɛ.ve/
• Rhymes: -ɛve
• Hyphenation: brè‧ve

Noun

breve m (plural brevi)

1. (historical, Middle Ages) a document recording a business transaction
2. (historical, Middle Ages) an oath sworn by magistrates of a medieval commune
3. (historical, Middle Ages, by extension) the statute of a commune. [13th–14th c.]
4. (Christianity) an official papal document, less solemn than a bull
5. (obsolete, by extension) a strip of paper with a short writing thereon
6. (Christianity) a small bundle containing a saint's relic or written prayers
7. (obsolete) talisman, amulet

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbre.ve/
• Rhymes: -eve
• Hyphenation: bré‧ve

Noun

breve f pl

1. plural of breva

Further reading

• breve¹ in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
• breve² in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Latin

Adjective

breve

1. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular of brevis

Middle English

Adjective

breve

1. Alternative form of bref

Noun

breve

1. Alternative form of bref

Portuguese

Etymology

Probably a borrowing from Latin brevis (“short”) (compare Spanish breve, where *brieve would be expected if the term were inherited), from Proto-Indo-European *mréǵʰus.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈbɾɛ.vi/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈbɾɛ.vi/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈbɾɛ.ve/

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈbɾɛ.vɨ/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈbɾɛ.vɨ/
  • (Northern Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈbɾɛ.bɨ/ [ˈbɾɛ.βɨ]

• Hyphenation: bre‧ve

Adjective

breve m or f (plural breves)

1. brief, short

   Synonym: curto

   Antonym: longo

2. summarized
3. minute (very small)

Derived terms

• até breve
• em breve

Related terms

• brevidade

Noun

breve f (plural breves)

1. (music) a double whole note (US) or breve (UK)
2. (phonetics) a syllable or vowel that is quickly pronounced

Noun

breve m (plural breves)

1. a Papal brief

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin brevis (“short”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɾebe/ [ˈbɾe.β̞e]

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ebe
• Syllabification: bre‧ve

Adjective

breve m or f (masculine and feminine plural breves, superlative brevísimo)

1. brief, short

   Synonym: corto

   Antonym: largo

Derived terms

• brevedad
• brevemente
• en breve
• la vida es breve
• lo bueno, si breve, dos veces bueno

 

Further reading

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

Swedish

Preposition

breve

1. (colloquial) Pronunciation spelling of bredvid.

Adverb

breve (not comparable)

1. (colloquial) Pronunciation spelling of bredvid.