Etymograph

English

bracket

Bracket comes from Old French braguette ‘the opening in the fore part of a pair of…’, from brague ‘knickers, britches’, and perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg- ‘to break, crack, split’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰreg-1‘to break, crack, split’uncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*brōks2‘leggings, breeches, trousers’uncertain
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*brāks2uncertainearly form of *brōks
  4. Transalpine Gaulishmodern*brāca2uncertain
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEbrāca2‘pants’
  6. Old Occitanc. 950–1500braga2
  7. Old Frenchc. 842–1400brague2‘knickers, britches’
  8. Old Frenchc. 842–1400braguette2‘the opening in the fore part of a pair of breeches, one's fly’diminutive of brague
  9. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500*braget2reconstructed
  10. Englishearliest quotation 1925bracket2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *brōks
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English bracket
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1925, – 1926 May, Which Introduces Some Very Physical Phenomena: “Some villain who knows nothing about it comes into…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰreg-Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *brōks‘to break, crack, split’uncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*brōksWiktionary, English bracket‘leggings, breeches, trousers’uncertain
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*brāksWiktionary, English bracketuncertainearly form of *brōks
  4. Transalpine Gaulishmodern*brācaWiktionary, English bracketuncertain
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEbrācaWiktionary, English bracket‘pants’
  6. Old Occitanc. 950–1500bragaWiktionary, English bracket
  7. Old Frenchc. 842–1400bragueWiktionary, English bracket‘knickers, britches’
  8. Old Frenchc. 842–1400braguetteWiktionary, English bracket‘the opening in the fore part of a pair of breeches, one's fly’diminutive of brague
  9. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500*bragetWiktionary, English bracketreconstructed
  10. Englishearliest quotation 1925bracketWiktionary, English bracket. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1925, – 1926 May, Which Introduces Some Very Physical Phenomena: “Some villain who knows nothing about it comes into…”

The story

From earlier bragget, *bracket, from Middle English *braget, *braket (attested in braket nail), from Old French braguette (‘the opening in the fore part of a pair of breeches, one's fly’), a diminutive of Old French brague (‘knickers, britches’), from Old Occitan braga, from Latin brāca (‘pants’), from Transalpine Gaulish *brāca, from Proto-Germanic *brāks, an early form of Proto-Germanic *brōks (‘leggings, breeches, trousers’).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg- ‘to break, crack, split’

break, broken, brigade, fragile, fraction, refrain, fragment, fracture, brake, suffrage, frail, fret, bray, 42 more

through Proto-Germanic *brōks ‘leggings, breeches, trousers’

5 more

Today it means

noun A fixture attached to a wall to hold up a shelf.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “bracket”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Proto-Germanic *brōks. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg- / bracket

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