Etymograph

English

breeze

Breeze comes from Middle English brees ‘wind’.

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500brees1‘wind’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1793breeze1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English breeze
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1793, William Wordsworth: “Into a gradual calm the breezes sink.”.

Lineage

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500breesWiktionary, English breeze‘wind’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1793breezeWiktionary, English breeze. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1793, William Wordsworth: “Into a gradual calm the breezes sink.”

The story

Variously supposed to derive from a Germanic source like Saterland Frisian Briese (‘breeze’), West Frisian brys (‘a cool wind’), Dutch bries (‘breeze’), early Dutch brysen (‘to blow cool and fresh’), or from Spanish brisa (‘northeast wind’). The earliest attestations are in Middle English brees (1460), Catalan brisa, and Italian brezza (all in 15th century), with Spanish (1504) and Portuguese briza (16th century) following closely after. The aforementioned Dutch cognates and French brise, however, are attested later than the term in English. The only internal hypothesis for any of those languages is a modification of Old Occitan bisa (‘strong wind’), which is not widely accepted.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Every English word from Middle English brees

Another origin of breeze

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰer-‘to hum, buzz’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰerem-‘to buzz’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*brimusī‘gadfly, horsefly’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*brimsireconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150brēosa‘breese (horsefly)’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500brese
  7. Englishtodaybreeze

Related also to Middle English brimse (‘gadfly’), French brize (‘gadfly’), Old English bremman (‘to rage, roar’), Latin fremō (‘roar, snort, growl, grumble’).

Another origin of breeze

  1. Frenchc. 1600–presentbraise‘burning coals’uncertain
  2. Englishtodaybreeze

Today it means

noun A light, gentle wind.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “breeze”. 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 / Middle English brees / breeze

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