Etymograph

English

broad

Broad comes from Old English brād ‘broad, flat, open, extended, spacious, wide,…’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *braidaz.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*braidaz1‘broad’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*braid1‘broad’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150brād1‘broad’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500brood1
  5. Englishearliest quotation c. 1606broad1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English broad
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1606, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Macbeth: “as broad and general as the casing air”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*braidazWiktionary, English broad‘broad’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*braidWiktionary, English broad‘broad’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150brādWiktionary, English broad‘broad’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500broodWiktionary, English broad
  5. Englishearliest quotation c. 1606broadWiktionary, English broad. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1606, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Macbeth: “as broad and general as the casing air”

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with broad, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- ‘to bear, carry’

  • different ← differēns ← differō ← ferō ← *ferō
  • offer ← offrian ← offerō ← ferō ← *ferō
  • difference ← differentia ← differēns ← differō ← ferō
  • bar ← barre ← barre ← *barra ← *barros
  • birth ← birthe ← burðr ← *burþiz ← *bʰértis
  • reference ← referentia ← referō ← ferō ← *ferō
  • transfer ← trānsferō ← ferō ← *ferō ← *bʰéreti
  • bear ← beren ← beran ← *beran ← *beraną
  • prefer ← preferren ← preferer ← praeferō ← *praiferō
  • relative ← relatif ← relātīvus ← relātus ← referō
  • suffer ← suffren ← suffrir ← *sufferīre ← sufferre
  • translation ← translacioun ← translacioun ← trānslātiō ← trānsferō

189 more relatives in the full family tree

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Another origin of broad

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*brūdiz‘bride’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*brūdi‘bride’reconstructed
  3. Old High Germanc. 750–1050brūt‘bride’
  4. Middle High Germanc. 1050–1350brūt
  5. Germanc. 1650–presentBraut‘bride”, also “girlfriend”, and more generally “broad, chick’
  6. Englishtodaybroad

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Today it means

adj Wide in extent or scope.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “broad”. 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 *braidaz / broad