Brent

See also: brent

English

The river Brent at Hanwell in London

Etymology

English surname from placenames in Devon and Somerset, from Old English brant (“steep”), referring to hills. Compare Brents.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɹɛnt/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛnt

Proper noun

Brent (countable and uncountable, plural Brents)

1. A habitational surname from Old English.
2. A male given name transferred from the surname, of 20th century and later usage.
3. A placename
   1. A small river in Greater London, England, United Kingdom, which joins the Thames at Brentford.
      • 2023, Zadie Smith, The Fraud, Hamish Hamilton, page 189:

        Only by the wet flapping of a barnacle goose did she know she now approached the River Brent, obscured as it was by a brickworks and yet more houses.

   2. A London borough in Greater London, England, United Kingdom, created in 1965 from the merger of the boroughs of Wembley and Willesden.

Derived terms

• Brent Cross
• Brentford
• Brentham
• Brentism
• Brent Knoll
• East Brent
• South Brent