brit

¹ American  

[brit] / brɪt /

Or britt

noun

1. the group of small marine animals forming the food of baleen whales.

2. the young of herring and sprat.

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Brit ² American  

[brit] / brɪt /

noun

1. a native or inhabitant of Great Britain, especially of England; Briton.

   He married a Brit.

2. Disparaging. a member of the British army in Northern Ireland during the Troubles.

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adjective

1. of or relating to Great Britain or its inhabitants; British.

   The syllabus for the course in Brit Lit was none too inspiring.

Brit. ³ American  

abbreviation

1. Britain.

2. British.

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Brit ¹ British  

abbreviation

1. Britain

2. British

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brit ² British  

/ brɪt /

noun

1. the young of a herring, sprat, or similar fish

2. minute marine crustaceans, esp copepods, forming food for many fishes and whales

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Brit ³ British  

/ brɪt /

noun

1. informal a British person

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Etymology

Origin of brit¹

First recorded in 1595–1605; perhaps from Cornish brȳthel “mackerel”; akin to Old Cornish brȳth, Welsh brith “speckled”

Origin of Brit²

First recorded in 1900–05; by shortening

Example Sentences

He was trained in the Jewish religious practice of brit milah — a profession generally spelled “mohel” in English and pronounced “moil.”

From New York Times • Aug. 15, 2023

“With brit milahs, they’re having the family they want, and if I’m doing the abortions, I’m just fulfilling the wish of women to have the lives they want.”

From Washington Post • Aug. 6, 2019

When she can, she conducts brit milahs for local families — at most “a few a month,” she said.

From Washington Post • Aug. 6, 2019

Turquoise's 53 Summer Street is a surreal location for psychedelic-era enlightenment in a track that BeltwayBandit describes as "really scrumptious 60s brit psychedelic whimsy, sort of Kinksesque but quite unique".

From The Guardian • May 24, 2012

Only the toothed whale eats fish; the others live upon animalculae and the most minute of marine life, called "brit" by the whalers.

From The New North by Cameron, Agnes Deans