Wiktionary

brain

See also: Brain

EnglishEdit

 
A human brain

EtymologyEdit

From Middle English brayn, brain, from Old English bræġn (“brain”), from Proto-West Germanic *bragn, from Proto-Germanic *bragną (“brain”), from Proto-Indo-European *mregʰnom (“skull, brain”), from Proto-Indo-European *mregʰ- (“marrow, sinciput”) + *-mn̥ (“nominal suffix”).

Cognate with Scots braine, brane (“brain”), North Frisian brayen, brein (“brain”), Saterland Frisian Brainge (“brain”), West Frisian brein (“brain”), Dutch brein (“brain”), Low German Brägen, Bregen (“brain”) (whence German Bregen (“animal brain”)), Ancient Greek βρεχμός (brekhmós, “front part of the skull, top of the head”).

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

brain (countable and uncountable, plural brains)

  1. The control center of the central nervous system of an animal located in the skull which is responsible for perception, cognition, attention, memory, emotion, and action.
    Synonyms: harns; see also Thesaurus:brain
    • 2013 July 19, Ian Sample, “Irregular bedtimes may affect children's brains”, in The Guardian Weekly‎[1], volume 189, number 6, page 34:
      Irregular bedtimes may disrupt healthy brain development in young children, according to a study of intelligence and sleeping habits.  ¶ Going to bed at a different time each night affected girls more than boys, but both fared worse on mental tasks than children who had a set bedtime, researchers found.
    1. A part of the brain, especially associated with particular mental functions, abilities, etc.
      • 1892, Benjamin Ward Richardson, The Asclepiad, page 357:
        The left brain, or that which supplies and animates the right side of the body, is the most active brain, as a general rule.
      • 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 113:
        What is expressed in the lotus, the plumed serpent, or the staff of Osiris is the yogi's knowledge of the three brains of man. The first brain is the reptilian brain of the spinal cord, the brain of instinctive reflexes, the brain of the subconscious.
  2. (informal) An intelligent person.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:genius
    She was a total brain.
    1. (plural only) A person who provides the intelligence required for something.
      He is the brains behind the scheme.
  3. (in the plural) Intellect.
    • 2008 Quaker Action (magazine) Rights trampled in rush to deport immigrant workers, Fall 2008, Vol. 89, No. 3, p. 8:
      "We provided a lot of brains and a lot of heart to the response when it was needed," says Sandra Sanchez, director of AFSC's Immigrants' Voice Program in Des Moines.
    She has a lot of brains.
    1. (in the singular) An intellectual or mental capacity.
      Gerald always acts like he doesn't have a brain.
  4. By analogy with a human brain, the part of a machine or computer that performs calculations.
    The computer's brain is capable of millions of calculations a second.
  5. (slang, vulgar, uncountable) Oral sex.
    • 2012, Mack Maine featuring Turk and Mystikal, I'm On It
      You said I got brain from your dame in the range
      In the passing lane
      But you really ain't got no proof
    • 2018, “Squidrific”, performed by SahBabii:
      She giving brain / She eat the dick up like some M&Ms
  6. (informal, slang) Mind.
    I have too much on my brain today.
  7. A loose compartment of a backpack that straps on over the top opening.

Derived termsEdit

TranslationsEdit

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

See alsoEdit

VerbEdit

brain (third-person singular simple present brains, present participle braining, simple past and past participle brained)

  1. (transitive) To dash out the brains of; to kill by smashing the skull.
  2. (transitive, slang) To strike (someone) on the head.
  3. (transitive, figurative) To destroy; to put an end to.
  4. (transitive, obsolete) To conceive in the mind; to understand.

QuotationsEdit

TranslationsEdit

Further readingEdit

AnagramsEdit

IrishEdit

NounEdit

brain m

  1. inflection of bran:
    1. vocative/genitive singular
    2. nominative/dative plural

MutationEdit

Irish mutation
Radical Lenition Eclipsis
brain bhrain mbrain
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Middle EnglishEdit

NounEdit

brain

  1. Alternative form of brayn

Old IrishEdit

Alternative formsEdit

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

brain m

  1. inflection of bran:
    1. vocative/genitive singular
    2. nominative plural

MutationEdit

Old Irish mutation
Radical Lenition Nasalization
brain brain
pronounced with /v(ʲ)-/ 		mbrain
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every
possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

WelshEdit

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

brain m pl

  1. plural of brân

MutationEdit

Welsh mutation
radical soft nasal aspirate
brain frain mrain unchanged
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.
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