brig

C2+ Topic:Maritime & Sailing

US /brɪɡ/ UK /brɪɡ/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
a two-masted square-rigged ship; a prison on a warship

The mutineer was confined to the ship's brig for the voyage.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a two-masted square-rigged... vessel ship prison guardhouselockup

Word family

Related forms brigantine

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

hermaphrodite brig
a two-masted sailing vessel with square sails forward and fore-and-aft sails on the mainmast

Adjective + noun

Etymology

A shortening of brigantine (from Italian brigantino, from brigante, 'brigand'), originally a fast two-masted ship; the 'shipboard prison' sense is American naval slang.

brigantino Italian

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Maritime & Sailing Transportation

External links

# brig

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /brɪɡ/
**IPA (UK):** /brɪɡ/

## Meanings
1. a two-masted square-rigged ship; a prison on a warship

## Examples
- The mutineer was confined to the ship's brig for the voyage.

## Synonyms
- vessel
- ship
- prison
- guardhouse
- lockup

## Related Forms
- brigantine

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: brigantino

## Etymology
A shortening of brigantine (from Italian brigantino, from brigante, 'brigand'), originally a fast two-masted ship; the 'shipboard prison' sense is American naval slang.

## AI Etymology
Brig is a shortening of brigantine (from Italian brigantino, from brigante, 'brigand'), originally a fast two-masted ship; the 'shipboard prison' sense is American naval slang. The historical trail runs through brigantino in Italian. Used as a noun, brig now means "a two-masted square-rigged ship; a prison on a warship", so the present definition can be read against the older forms and meanings. The same lexical family is also visible in related forms such as brigantine. The result is a borrowed or transmitted form whose modern spelling carries a compact record of its route into English.

## Topics
- Maritime & Sailing
- Transportation

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