brief – English noun declension

English noun forms of brief

Noun: brief
Singularbrief
Pluralbriefs

Sample Sentences

  • It was in vain that the bishop published a new papal brief, declaring valid the excommunications which he had issued, and those of the inquisitors to be null, and requiring them to seek absolution from him. [1891 August 26, Henry Charles Lea, “A Colonial Inquisitor”, in The Atlantic, →ISSN, archived from the original on 24 Feb 2026:]
  • A written answer or any other brief shall be submitted to the court while allowing a period necessary for the opponent to make preparations with regard to the matters stated therein. [1996, Japanese Rules of Civil Procedure, Article 79, Section 1]
  • Mrs. Hope was, we believe, a convert to the Roman Catholic Church, and neither she nor her editor conceals the fact that they hold a brief for the Pope and for Catharine against Henry VIII. [1894 August 18, “The First Divorce of Henry VIII [book review]”, in The Speaker, volume 10, page 192:]
  • We got a news brief.
  • Hie good ſir Mighell, beare this ſealed briefe / With winged haſte to the Lord Marſhall / This to my cooſen Scroope, and all the reſt / To whom they are directed. [c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iv]:]
  • I wear boxer shorts under trousers but for sports I usually wear a brief.
  • All Brad Woodburn had on was his brief underwear. [2002, Randolph H. Deer, West of Mecca, page 91:]
  • […] euen ſo it fareth with mee, who béeing about to anatomize Abſurditie, am vrged to take a view of ſundry mens vanitie, a ſuruey of their follie, a briefe of their barbariſme […] [1589, Thomas Nashe, The Anatomie of Absurditie:]
  • EACH woman is a brief of womankind, / And doth in little e’en as much contain, / As in one day and night all life we find ; / Of either more is but the ſame again […] [a. 1613, Sir Thomas Overbury, “A Wife”, in The Miscellaneous Works in Verse and Prose of Sir Thomas Overbury, Knt. with Memoir of his Life, 10th edition, London: W. Owen, published 1756, page 23:]

Etymology

1. Etymology tree
2. Proto-Indo-European *mreǵʰ-
3. Proto-Indo-European *-us
4. Proto-Indo-European *mréǵʰusder.
5. Proto-Italic *breɣʷis
6. Latin brevisder.
7. Old French briefbor.
8. Old French brievebor.
9. Middle English bref
10. English brief
11. From Middle English breef, breve, bref, from Old French brief, bref, from Latin brevis (“short”), from Proto-Indo-European *mréǵʰus (“short, brief”). Doublet of breve and merry. See: Middle English Nouns 'breef', Latin Nouns 'brevis'.

Verbs referencing "brief"

German Nouns Brief, English Nouns brifka, Finnish Nouns briiffi.