briny

English

WOTD – 8 June 2026

Salt deposits on the shore of the Dead Sea, one of the briniest (etymology 1, adjective sense 1) bodies of water in the world.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈbɹaɪni/
• Rhymes: -aɪni

• Audio (Australia):

  (file)

Etymology 1

Etymology tree

English brine

Proto-Indo-European *-kos

Proto-Germanic *-gaz

Proto-West Germanic *-g

Old English -iġ

Middle English -y

English -y

English briny

The adjective is from brine (noun) +‎ -y (suffix forming adjectives with the sense ‘having the quality of’).

The noun is from the adjective.

Adjective

briny (comparative brinier or more briny, superlative briniest or most briny)

2. Of, relating to, resembling, or containing brine (“water saturated or strongly impregnated with salt”), such as seawater or tears; salty.

   Antonym: unbriny

   on the briny deep

   • 1612, Michael Drayton, “The Eleuenth Song”, in [John Selden], editor, Poly-Olbion. Or A Chorographicall Description of Tracts, Riuers, Mountaines, Forests, and Other Parts of this Renowned Isle of Great Britaine, […], London: […] [Humphrey Lownes] for M[athew] Lownes; I[ohn] Browne; I[ohn] Helme; I[ohn] Busbie, →OCLC, page 172:

     And, vvhat the famous Flood farre more then that enriches, / That bracky Fountaines are, thoſe tvvo renovvned VVyches, / The Nant-vvyche, and the North, vvhoſe either brynie VVell, / For ſtore and ſorts of Salts, make VVeeuer to excell.

   • 1697, Virgil, “The Tenth Pastoral. Or, Gallus.”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 45, lines 6–7:

     So may thy Silver Streams beneath the Tide, / Unmix'd vvith briny Seas, ſecurely glide.

   • 1717, Homer, translated by Alexander Pope, “Book IX”, in The Iliad of Homer, volume III, London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC, page 4, lines 17–18:

     The King amidſt the mournful Circle roſe; / Dovvn his vvan Cheek a briny Torrent flovvs; […]

   • 1720, Allan Ramsay, “Content. A Poem.”, in Poems, 3rd edition, Edinburgh: Printed for the author […] [and sold by T. Jauncy […]], →OCLC, page 154:

     The briny Stream their roſy Cheeks beſmear'd, / VVhilſt they in Clouds of Vapours diſappear'd.

   • 1851 July, “The Peaceful Lieutenant and His Friends. A Three Hours’ Platonic Gossip. Hour III. Concerning Sundry Passages in the Lieutenant’s Own History; and the Strange Legend of His (Supposed) Grandfather.”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume LXX, number CCCCXXIX, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood & Sons, […], →OCLC, page 52, column 1:

     [T]he sea was a region where every fable and prodigy of the ancients still existed: the briniest old Triton that ever gulled the marines, with his tongue in his cheek and his weather-eye winking, or the sharpest young reefer that ever astonished a tea-party after his first voyage, couldn't have strung together a more surprising set of incidents.

   • 1877, T[homas] H[enry] Huxley, “Evaporation”, in Physiography. An Introduction to the Study of Nature, London: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, page 73:

     The sea, which covers so large a proportion of the earth's surface, offers a vast exposure of salt water to the heat of the sun; yet the salt is left entirely behind and nothing but pure water evaporated. Fresh water is thus being constantly distilled from the briny ocean.

   • 1886 September, Rudyard Kipling, “[Departmental Ditties] Lucifer”, in Departmental Ditties and Barrack-room Ballads (The Complete Works of Rudyard Kipling; XXXII), Sussex edition, London: Macmillan and Co., […], published 1938, →OCLC, stanza 4, page 16:

     The Gods / Saw and prepared for him their briniest rods.

     Referring to soaking rods in brine to make canings with them more painful: see John Radcliffe, editor (20 November 2012), “Lucifer”, in The Kipling Society‎^[1], archived from the original on 25 March 2025.

   • 2021 March, Barbara Ross, chapter 3, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), New York, N.Y.: Kensington Publishing Corp., →ISBN, page 42:

     The oysters from each farm were distinctive—brinier, sweeter, meatier, creamier, slightly metallic at the finish.

3. (figurative) Of a person: difficult to get along with or to like; acerbic, prickly, unlikable.
   • 2026 January 19, Dwight Garner, “A briny Englishman (and Booker Prize winner) says farewell”, in The New York Times Book Review‎^[2], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 22 January 2026:

     [Julian] Barnes wrote "Nothing to Be Frightened Of" when he was 62. He just turned 80. This briny English writer, author of "Flaubert's Parrot" (1984) and a winner of the Booker Prize, for "The Sense of an Ending" (2011), now has a rare form of blood cancer, treatable but exhausting and uncurable.

Derived terms

• brinily
• brininess
• unbriny

Translations

of, relating to, resembling, or containing brine — see salty

of a person: difficult to get along with or to like — see acerbic,‎ prickly,‎ unlikable

Noun

the briny

1. (humorous or informal) The ocean, the sea.
   • 1831, [John Banim], The Smuggler; a Tale. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 40:

     "[…] [H]e was seen at t'other side of the briny, this morning." / "In France, Sir?"—continued Martha, clasping her hands.

   • 1923, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], “The Kingsmouth Spy Case”, in The Eyes of Max Carrados, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, published 1924, →OCLC, page 312:

     That afternoon Mr Slater had been for what he termed "a blow of the briny," as his custom was on a fine day. He was returning in the dusk and had crossed the spacious promenade when, at a corner, he almost ran into the broad figure of a policeman who stood talking to a woman on the path.

   • 1979, Elvis Costello, “Crawling to the U.S.A.”, in Americathon: Music from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, performed by Elvis Costello, New York, N.Y.: Lorimar Records, →OCLC:

     I thought I would go to the sea and shrink down very tiny / And slide inside the telephone wire that runs under the briny

Translations

ocean, sea — see ocean,‎ sea

Etymology 2

Origin uncertain, possibly from Middle English brine (“act of burning; fire”, noun), from Old English bryne (“act of burning; fire, flame; heat”), from Proto-Germanic *bruniz (“act of burning; fire”), from *brinnaną (“to be on fire, burn”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrewh₁- (“to boil; to brew”).

Adjective

briny (comparative more briny, superlative most briny)

1. (archaic or obsolete) Especially of the sea: phosphorescent, shining.
   • [1609, Richard Carew, “The First Booke”, in The Survey of Cornwall, London: […] S[imon] S[tafford] for Iohn Iaggard, […], →OCLC, folio 26, verso:

     [S]omevvhat before a tempeſt, if the ſea-vvater bee flaſhed vvith a ſticke or Oare, the ſame caſteth a bright ſhining colour, and the drops thereof reſemble ſparekles of fire, as if the vvaues vvere turned into flames, vvhich the Saylers terms Briny.]

Translations

especially of the sea: phosphorescent, shining — see phosphorescent,‎ shining

Further reading

• brine on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Cornish

Alternative forms

• brini

Noun

briny m pl

1. plural of bran (“crow”)