Etymograph

English

brother

Brother comes from Middle English brother ‘a brother or brother-in-law’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *bʰréh₂tēr.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰréh₂tēr1reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*brōþēr1reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*brōþer1reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150brōþor1
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500brother1‘a brother or brother-in-law’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1819brother1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English brother
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1819, Walter Scott: “Seest thou not we are overreached, and that our…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰréh₂tērWiktionary, English brotherreconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*brōþērWiktionary, English brotherreconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*brōþerWiktionary, English brotherreconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150brōþorWiktionary, English brother
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500brotherWiktionary, English brother‘a brother or brother-in-law’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1819brotherWiktionary, English brother. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1819, Walter Scott: “Seest thou not we are overreached, and that our…”

Word family

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

through Proto-Indo-European *bʰréh₂tēr

  • pal ← phral ← भ्रातृ ← *bʰráHtā
  • fraternity ← fraternite ← fraternité ← frāternitās ← frāternus
  • bhai ← भ्रातृ ← *bʰráHtā
  • fra ← frate ← frāter ← *frātēr
  • friar ← frere ← frere ← frāter ← *frātēr
  • fraternal ← fraternel ← frāternālis ← frāternus ← frāter
  • frater

through Old English brōþor

through Middle English brother ‘a brother or brother-in-law’

  • bro ← brother

17 more relatives in the full family tree

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Today it means

noun Son of the same parents as another person.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “brother”. 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 *bʰréh₂tēr / brother