brass

B1 Topic:Music Theory

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

Appears in

Phrases (3)

See all

Proverbs (1)

See all

Where there's muck there's money
Matching variant: Where there's muck, there's brass

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 ->

Topics

Music Theory Materials & Substances

External links

# 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
- Music Theory
- Materials & Substances

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