Etymograph

English

brain

Brain comes from Middle English brayn, from Old English bræġn, from Proto-West Germanic *bragn, from Proto-Germanic *bragną.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*bragną1reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*bragn1reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150bræġn1‘brain’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500brayn1‘brain’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1587brain1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English brain
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1587, Philip of Mornay [i.e., That there is but Onely One God: “The Ueynes are ſpred foorth throughout the whole bodie,…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*bragnąWiktionary, English brainreconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*bragnWiktionary, English brainreconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150bræġnWiktionary, English brain‘brain’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500braynWiktionary, English brain‘brain’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1587brainWiktionary, English brain. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1587, Philip of Mornay [i.e., That there is but Onely One God: “The Ueynes are ſpred foorth throughout the whole bodie,…”

Every English word from Proto-Germanic *bragną

Today it means

noun The control center of the central nervous system of an animal located in the skull, consisting of the cerebrum, cerebellum, and brainstem, which is responsible for perception, cognition, attention, memory, emotion, and action.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “brain”. 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-Germanic *bragną / brain

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