brass

B1 Topic:Materials & Substances

US /bɹas/ UK /bɹɑːs/ See IPA manual

Freq #5481

Meanings

1

noun
A group of musical instruments made of metal that are played by blowing, such as trumpets and trombones.

The brass came in strong during the final chorus.
2

noun
A bold or cheeky attitude.

You've got a lot of brass telling me what to do!

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a group of musical... brass instrument

Word family

Forms brasses

Derived forms brass-balledbrass-knuckledbrass-neckbrass-neckedbrassboardbrassboundbrassenbrassfounderbrassfoundingbrassiebrassishbrasslike

Etymology

From Portuguese braça and Spanish braza, from Old Galician-Portuguese and Old Spanish braça, from Latin brachia, variant of bracchium (“arm, cubit”), from Ancient Greek βραχίων (brakhíōn, “upper arm”).

braça osp braza Spanish brachia Latin βραχίων Ancient Greek

View etymology graph ->

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# brass

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B1
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /bɹas/
**IPA (UK):** /bɹɑːs/
**Frequency rank:** 5481

## Meanings
1. A group of musical instruments made of metal that are played by blowing, such as trumpets and trombones.
2. A bold or cheeky attitude.

## Examples
- The brass came in strong during the final chorus.
- You've got a lot of brass telling me what to do!

## Derived Forms
- brass-balled
- brass-knuckled
- brass-neck
- brass-necked
- brassboard
- brassbound
- brassen
- brassfounder
- brassfounding
- brassie
- brassish
- brasslike

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: braça
- Root: braza
- Root: brachia
- Root: βραχίων

## Etymology
From Portuguese braça and Spanish braza, from Old Galician-Portuguese and Old Spanish braça, from Latin brachia, variant of bracchium (“arm, cubit”), from Ancient Greek βραχίων (brakhíōn, “upper arm”).

## AI Etymology
Brass comes from Portuguese braça and Spanish braza, from Old Galician-Portuguese and Old Spanish braça, from Latin brachia, variant of bracchium (“arm, cubit”), from Ancient Greek βραχίων (brakhíōn, “upper arm”).

## Topics
- Materials & Substances

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brass

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