brick

US /ˈbɹɪk/ See IPA manual

Freq #4006

Meanings

1

noun
A hard rectangular block of baked clay used for building.

The garden wall is made of red bricks.
2

noun
Baked clay considered as a building material.

Their house is built of brick.
3

noun
Something shaped like a brick.

He bought a brick of butter at the market.

Thesaurus

Word family

Forms brickedbrickingbrickishbricks

Derived forms all-brickbiobrickbrick-a-brackbrick-and-mortarbrick-busterbrick-redbrick-shapedbrick-teabrickbatbrickclaybrickdustbricken

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

clinker brick
a very hard fired brick used for paving

Noun + noun

Simplified etymology

Brick probably entered Middle English as a Low German word brought by Flemish workers associated with early brickmaking. Its use may have been reinforced by Old French brique, denoting a form of loaf. Its ultimate origin is unknown.

Etymology

From Late Middle English brik, bryke, bricke, from Middle Low German and Middle Dutch bricke ("cracked or broken brick; tile-stone"; modern Dutch brik), ultimately related to Proto-West Germanic *brekan (“to break”), whence also Old French briche and French brique (“brick”). Compare also German Low German Brickje (“small board, tray”). Related to break. The social media slang sense derives from memes about building up one's feed “brick by brick”, analogizing bricks with reels that inform the algorithm.

brik Middle English bricke Middle Dutch *brekan Proto-West Germanic

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Architecture & Buildings General Vocabulary

External links

# brick

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B1
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈbɹɪk/
**Frequency rank:** 4006

## Meanings
1. A hard rectangular block of baked clay used for building.
2. Baked clay considered as a building material.
3. Something shaped like a brick.

## Examples
- The garden wall is made of red bricks.
- Their house is built of brick.
- He bought a brick of butter at the market.

## Derived Forms
- all-brick
- biobrick
- brick-a-brack
- brick-and-mortar
- brick-buster
- brick-red
- brick-shaped
- brick-tea
- brickbat
- brickclay
- brickdust
- bricken

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: brik
- Root: bricke
- Root: *brekan

## Etymology
From Late Middle English brik, bryke, bricke, from Middle Low German and Middle Dutch bricke ("cracked or broken brick; tile-stone"; modern Dutch brik), ultimately related to Proto-West Germanic *brekan (“to break”), whence also Old French briche and French brique (“brick”). Compare also German Low German Brickje (“small board, tray”). Related to break. The social media slang sense derives from memes about building up one's feed “brick by brick”, analogizing bricks with reels that inform the algorithm.

## AI Etymology
Brick comes from Late Middle English brik, bryke, bricke, from Middle Low German and Middle Dutch bricke ("cracked or broken brick; tile-stone"; modern Dutch brik), ultimately related to Proto-West Germanic *brekan (“to break”), whence also Old French briche and French brique (“brick”). Compare also German Low German Brickje (“small board, tray”). Related to break. The social media slang sense derives from memes about building up one's feed “brick by brick”, analogizing bricks with reels that inform the algorithm.

## Topics
- Architecture & Buildings
- General Vocabulary

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