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definitions

brit

or britt

[ brit ]
/ brɪt /
|

noun

the group of small marine animals forming the food of whalebone whales.
the young of herring and sprat.

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Nearby words

  1. bristol channel,
  2. bristol fashion,
  3. bristols,
  4. bristow,
  5. brisé,
  6. brit lit,
  7. brit milah,
  8. brit.,
  9. britain,
  10. britain, battle of

Origin of brit

1595–1605; perhaps < Cornish brȳthel mackerel; akin to Old Cornish brȳth, Welsh brith speckled

Brit

[ brit ]
/ brɪt /

noun Informal.

Briton(def 1).

Origin of Brit

First recorded in 1900–05; by shortening

Brith

or Berith, Brit, Bris

[ Sephardic Hebrew breet; Ashkenazic Hebrew bris; English bris, brit ]
/ Sephardic Hebrew brit; Ashkenazic Hebrew brɪs; English brɪs, brɪt /

noun Hebrew.

the Jewish rite of circumcising a male child eight days after his birth.
Compare Brith Milah.

Origin of Brith

bərīth literally, covenant

Brit.

Britain.
British.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for brit

British Dictionary definitions for brit

brit

/ (brɪt) /

noun (functioning as singular or plural)

the young of a herring, sprat, or similar fish
minute marine crustaceans, esp copepods, forming food for many fishes and whales

Word Origin for brit

C17: perhaps from Cornish brӯthel mackerel; see brill

Brit

1
/ (brɪt) /

noun

informal a British person

Brit

2

abbreviation for

Britain
British

brith

/ (brit) /

noun

a variant of bris
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for brit

Brit

n.

U.S. colloquial shortening of Britisher or Briton, 1901, formerly (in common with Britisher) highly offensive to Englishmen traveling in the States, who regarded it as yet another instance of the "odious vulgarism" of the Americans, but Bret and Bryt were common Old English words for the (Celtic) Britons and survived until c.1300. In Old French, Bret as an adjective meant "British, Breton; cunning, crafty; simple-minded, stupid."

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper