bric-a-brac

See also: bricabrac and bric-à-brac

English

WOTD – 15 November 2022

Etymology

A bric-a-brac (sense 1) shop in Woorim, Queensland, Australia.

Bric-a-brac (sense 1) on sale in a flea market in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, U.K.

Borrowed from French bric-à-brac (“miscellaneous items of little value”), apparently from à bricq et à bracq (“at random; haphazardly”); bricq and bracq are expressive onomatopoeias of obscure origin.

Pronunciation

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

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

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

Noun

bric-a-brac (usually uncountable, plural bric-a-bracs) (also attributively)

1. Small ornaments and other miscellaneous display items of little value.

   Synonyms: brickety-brack, knick-knacks; see also Thesaurus:trinket

   • 1840, M. A. Titmarsh [pseudonym; William Makepeace Thackeray], “Meditations at Versailles”, in The Paris Sketch Book, volume II, London: John Macrone, […], →OCLC, page 267:

     The palace of Versailles has been turned into a bricabrac shop, of late years; and its time-honoured walls have been covered with many thousand yards of the worst pictures that eye ever looked on.

   • 1861 January – 1862 August, W[illiam] M[akepeace] Thackeray, “In which Philip Shows His Mettle”, in The Adventures of Philip on His Way through the World; […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], published 1862, →OCLC, page 299:

     No doubt her pleasure would have been at that moment to give him not only that gold which she had been saving up against rent-day, but the spoons, the furniture, and all the valuables of the house, including, perhaps, J. J.'s bricabrac, cabinets, china, and so forth.

   • 1876, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter LXVII, in Daniel Deronda, volume IV, Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book VIII (Fruit and Seed), page 314:

     Haven't an affair in the world, […] except a quarrel with a bric-à-brac man.

   • 1882–1883, Walt Whitman, “[Collect. Notes Left Over.] Emerson’s Books, (the Shadows of Them).”, in Specimen Days & Collect, Philadelphia, Pa.: Rees Welsh & Co., […], →OCLC, page 320:

     Indeed, who wants the real animal or hunter? What would that do amid astral and bric-a-brac and tapestry, and ladies and gentlemen talking in subdued tones of [Robert] Browning and [Henry Wadsworth] Longfellow and art?

2. (by extension) Any collection containing a variety of miscellaneous items; a hodgepodge, an olio.

   Synonyms: mishmash, oddments; see also Thesaurus:hodgepodge

   • 1871–1872, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter XLIII, in Middlemarch […], volume III, Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book V, page 13:

     Yes: I think he is a good fellow: rather miscellaneous and bric-à-brac, but likable.

Alternative forms

• bricabrac, bric-à-brac, brick-a-brack

Derived terms

• bric-a-bracker (rare)
• bric-a-brackery, bric-a-bracquerie
• brickety-brack

Translations

small ornaments and other miscellaneous items of little value

• Esperanto: aĵetoj
• Finnish: krääsä (fi), rihkama (fi)
• French: bric-à-brac (fr) m
• German: Schnickschnack (de) m
• Greek: μπιχλιμπίδι (el) n (bichlimpídi)
• Hungarian: csecsebecse (hu)
• Italian: bric-a-brac m, cianfrusaglie f pl, ciarpame (it) m, paccottaglia f
• Japanese: 瓦落多, 我楽多, 瓦落苦多, がらくた (ja), ガラクタ (garakuta)
• Polish: bambetle (pl) m pl (informal), bibeloty m pl
• Portuguese: bricabraque (pt) m, porcariada f, quinquilharia (pt) f
• Swedish: tingeltangel (sv) n

any collection containing a variety of miscellaneous items — see hodgepodge,‎ olio

Further reading

• bric-à-brac on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Bric à Brac in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Italian

Noun

bric-a-brac m (invariable)

1. bric-a-brac

   Synonyms: cianfrusaglia, ciarpame, paccottaglia