Etymograph

English

briny

Briny comes from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreyH- ‘to cut’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰreyH-1‘to cut’root named by Wiktionary
  2. English1500–presentbrine1
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1612briny1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English briny
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1612, Michael Drayton, The Eleuenth Song: “And, vvhat the famous Flood farre more then that…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰreyH-Wiktionary, English briny‘to cut’root named by Wiktionary
  2. English1500–presentbrineWiktionary, English briny
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1612brinyWiktionary, English briny. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1612, Michael Drayton, The Eleuenth Song: “And, vvhat the famous Flood farre more then that…”

The story

The adjective is from brine (noun) + -y (suffix forming adjectives with the sense ‘having the quality of’).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *bʰreyH- ‘to cut’

friction, fray, frivolous, frivolity, fricative, friable, 5 more

through English brine

brian

Today it means

adj Of, relating to, resembling, or containing brine (“water saturated or strongly impregnated with salt”), such as seawater or tears; salty.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “briny”. 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 *bʰreyH- / briny

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