bro

Clipping of English Brokkat.

bro

1. (international standards) ISO 639-3 language code for Brokkat.

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Brokkat terms

• bra, brah

PIE word
*bʰréh₂tēr

Spelling pronunciation and clipping of brother. (Contrast bruh, which is a clipping of the pronunciation of brother rather than the spelling.) Compare Swedish bror.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈbɹəʊ̯/, [ˈbɹʷəʊ̯]; /ˈbɹɵʊ̯/, [ˈbɹʷɵʊ̯]
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈbɹəʉ̯/, [ˈbɹʷəʉ̯]; /ˈbɹɐʉ̯/, [ˈbɹʷɐ̝ʉ̯]

  • Audio:

    (file)

• (General American, Standard Canadian) IPA^(key): /ˈbɹoʊ̯/, [ˈbɹʷoʊ̯]; /ˈbɹɔʊ̯/, [ˈbɹʷɔ̝ʊ̯]
  • (monophthongization) IPA^(key): /ˈbɹoː/, [ˈbɹʷoː]
• Rhymes: -əʊ
• Hyphenation: bro
• Homophone: Breaux

bro (plural bros) (slang)

1. Brother (a male sibling).

   My mom took my lil' bro to soccer practice now and she wanted me to pick him up.

2. Brother (a comrade or friend; one who shares one’s ideals).

   Bro, you good? You've been lookin' kinda out of it lately.

   • 2022 April 5, “A$AP Rocky: Will Smith 'emasculated' Chris Rock but 'it's more than just a GI Jane joke'”, in Cele|bitchy‎^[1], archived from the original on 8 February 2025:

     Let’s not kid ourselves – there are plenty of men saying that Will has been emasculated by Jada, because hurr durr why would he hit a bro over a woman.

   • 2025 October 7, Jason Zinoman, “What Clowns! (That’s a Compliment)”, in The New York Times‎^[2], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 7 October 2025:

     Her breakout was the 2017 production “Nate” (available as a Netflix special) in which she played a toxic, handsy bro who drove a motorcycle onstage, guzzling beers, groping audience members and creating chaos.

4. Brother, my man, good sir; a friendly term of address for typically men.

   Near-synonym: man

   don't tase me, bro

   Hey bro, sorry to bother you but I think I accidentally backed up into your car — can I make it up to you?

   Bro said he finna go off today!

5. A frat boy or someone who espouses the fraternity bro culture.
7. (derogatory, usually in compounds) Someone, usually male, who aggressively evangelizes a person, concept or technology.
   • 2021 May 25, Edward-Isaac Dovere, Battle for the Soul: Inside the Democrats' Campaigns to Defeat Trump, Penguin, →ISBN, page 152:

     Pfeiffer's partners at Pod Save America — the audio outpost of the resistance that had made a collection of Obama Bros niche superstars, had invested as producers in a documentary about the Senate run.

   • 2022 September 14, Brian Culp, Electric Cars For Dummies, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 11:

     One of these cars has 707 horsepower, performs amazingly well on a drag strip, and is popular among performance car bros. The other car is about to easily win a drag race.

   • 2024 May 23, ego_bot, There's Something Weird Going On: Ten Stories of Existentialist Science Fiction, ego_bot, →ISBN:

     He'd seen that false equivalency coming from AI bros time and time again, but hearing it from an AI itself was especially irritating.

• BOR, Bor, Bor., ORB, ROB, Rob, bor, orb, rob

From Proto-Brythonic *broɣ, from Proto-Celtic *mrogis.

• IPA^(key): /bʀoː/

bro f (plural broioù)

1. country (nation state); homeland

   A bep liv marc'h mat; a bep bro tud vat. ― Good horses whatever their colour; good people whatever their country. (Breton proverb)

   • 1897, “Bro Gozh ma Zadoù [Old Land of My Fathers]”, François Jaffrennou (lyrics), James James (music), Anthem of Brittany:

     O! Breizh, ma bro, me 'gar ma bro.
     Tra ma vo mor 'vel mur 'n he zro,
     Ra vezo digabestr ma bro!

     Brittany, my country, I love my country,
     So long as the sea, like a wall surrounding thee,
     My country shall be free!

   • 1975 July 5, Añjela Duval, “Fri Korloko”, in Al Liamm‎^[3], Le Vieux-Marché:

     Ret eo, emezi, ma vo anavezet hor bro evel ur gwir vro gant ar gwir da zerc’hel he renk e-touez ar broioù all.

     It is necessary, she said, that our country be recognized as a true country with the right to maintain its rank among other countries.

   • 2010, “Karantez-vro [Love for a Country]”, in Añjela Duval (lyrics), Bretonne‎^[4], performed by Veronique Autret:

     Ret' voe didab 'tre div garantez :
     Karantrez-vro, karantez den.
     D'am bro am eus gouestlet va buhez
     Ha lezet da vont 'n hini 'garen.

     Forced to choose between two affections:
     Love for a country, love for a man.
     I've given my life to my nation
     And let go of the one I loved.

Borrowed from English bro.

IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈbɾo]

bro m (plural bros)

1. (slang) bro (a male comrade or friend)
2. (slang) bro (used to address a male)

From Proto-Brythonic *broɣ, from Proto-Celtic *mrogis. Cognate with Breton bro

bro f (plural broyow)

1. country, land

From Old Danish bro, from Old East Norse brō, from Proto-Germanic *brūwō (“bridge; brow”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰruh- (“beam, bridge”).

• IPA^(key): /broː/, [b̥ʁoːˀ]

bro c (singular definite broen, plural indefinite broer)

1. bridge

• Norwegian Bokmål: bro

• “bro” in Den Danske Ordbog
• “bro” in Ordbog over det danske Sprog

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

bro m (plural bros)

1. thorn

Inherited from Late Latin brodium, from Frankish *broþ, from Proto-Germanic *bruþą.

bro m (plural brodi)

1. broth

• Antonio Pellizzer; Giovanni Pellizzer (1992), Vocabulario del dialetto di Rovigno d'Istria, page 138
• Cergna, Sandro (2015), Vocabolario del dialetto di Valle d'Istria‎^[5], →ISBN, →OCLC, page 56

Borrowed from English bro. First attested in 2019.

bro m (invariable)

1. (slang) bro (a male comrade or friend)

   Synonym: fra

From Sanskrit बृहत् (bṛhat, “lofty, high, tall”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰérǵʰonts. Cognate with Persian بلند (boland), English borough.

bro

1. mountain top, peak
2. succession of peaks which make up a ridge

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

bro m (plural bros)

1. (Jersey) pitcher

• bru

From Danish bro, from Old Danish bro, from Old East Norse brō, from Proto-Germanic *brōwō (“bridge; brow”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bʰruH- (“beam; bridge”), which may be the same root as *h₃bʰrúHs (“(eye)brow”), whence brun. Close cognate with Swedish bro. Compare also Norwegian bru (“bridge”) and Icelandic brú (“bridge”), from Proto-Germanic *brū-.

bro f or m (definite singular broa or broen, indefinite plural broer, definite plural broene)

1. bridge

• “bro” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Unadapted borrowing from English bro.

• Rhymes: -ow

bro m (plural bros)

1. (colloquial) bro (a male comrade or friend)
2. (colloquial) bro (used to address a male)

Borrowed from English bro.

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɾo/ [ˈbɾo]
• Rhymes: -o
• Syllabification: bro

bro m (plural bros)

1. (slang) bro (a male comrade or friend)
2. (slang) bro (used to address a male)
   • 2025 November 4, Fabián Evaristo, “Avanza orden en puntos 420 de la CDMX; aún se vende cannabis”, in El Universal‎^[6]:

     “ […] Si hubiera más gente o estuviera más lleno, ahí sí diríamos ‘sabes qué bro, pues ya te tienes que retirar’, sabes”.

     " […] If there were more people or it were more full, then we would say "you know what, bro, you have to go away now,' y'know."

From English blow.

• IPA^(key): /bro/

bro

1. To blow, to produce air currents.
2. To breathe.
   • 1936, Melville J. Herskovits, Frances S. Herskovits, Suriname folk-lore‎^[7], New York: Columbia University Press, page 424:

     Bɔfru dɛ krei̯, Dia dɛ krei̯, Tamanwa 'ɛ krei̯. Nō mō ala den meti 'ɛ gowe wą' wą'. Nō mō Hagu drapɛ, 'ɛ bari, ‘Bia, bia, bia, / Mi yɛre suma dɛdɛ, / Ma karaki dɛ bro.’

     [Bofru e krei, Dia e krei, Tamanwa e krei. Nomo ala den meti e gwe wanwan. Nomo Agu drape e bari, 'Bia, bia, bia / Mi yere suma dede / Ma karaki e bro.']

     Buffalo was crying, Deer was crying, Anteater was crying. No sooner did all the animals go away one by one, than Hog called out, ‘Bia, bia, bia, / I hear a person died, / But his backside breathes.’

bro

1. breath

From Old East Norse brō, from Proto-Germanic *brōwō (“bridge; brow”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bʰruH- (“beam; bridge”), which may be the same root as *h₃bʰrúHs (“(eye)brow”), whence bryn. Compare Norwegian Bokmål bro, Icelandic brú (“bridge”).

• IPA^(key): /bruː/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uː

bro c

2. a bridge (construction that spans a divide)

   Staden mellan broarna

   The town between the bridges [Stockholm old town]

   Släpp inte en jävel över bron, håll ut en stund till!

   Don't let a single bastard cross the bridge, hold out a little longer!

3. a road bank (road reinforced with stone or timber, in particular across wetlands)
4. a quay

   Synonyms: brygga, skeppsbro

6. (northern Sweden) a set of steps leading up to the front door of a house (sometimes with a porch or a deck, and sometimes with just a single step, as in just a deck or the like), a stoop

   Synonym: (when a porch) farstubro

   Ställ den ute på bron

   Put it out on the porch / deck / stoop

   Jag får min motion när jag går mellan bron och garageuppfarten

   I get my exercise walking between the porch and the garage driveway

• “bro”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)
• “bro”, in Svenska Akademiens ordlista [Wordlist of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)
• “bro”, in Svenska Akademiens ordbok [Dictionary of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)

• bor

Borrowed from English bro. Doublet of birader

• IPA^(key): /bɯˈɾo/
• Hyphenation: bro

bro (definite accusative broyu, plural brolar)

1. (youth slang) bro

   Synonyms: abi, aga, birader

From English bro.

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [ʔɓɹo˧˧], [ʔɓəː˨˩ zo˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [ʔɓɹow˧˧], [ʔɓəː˦˩ ʐow˧˧]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [ʔɓɹow˧˧], [ʔɓəː˨˩ ɹow˧˧]
• Phonetic spelling: brô, bờ rô

bro

1. (slang, Vietnam) bro (used to address a person (presumably) around the same age, usually male)

   các bro

   you bros

   bro ấy

   he (that bro)

   • 2021 September 6, Koi Koi, “Bất ngờ bài 'nhạc Thái' lọt top trending cao nhưng hoá ra của ca sĩ Việt, nghe vui xả stress được khen ngợi hết lời! ["Thai" song unexpectedly shoots into the top trending list but turns out to be by Vietnamese singer; listen to relieve your stress; speechlessly recommend!]”, in Kênh 14‎^[8], Hanoi: VCCorp, retrieved 7 March 2023:

     Mùa dịch này làm mấy bài vui vẻ này hợp lý quá bro ơi.

     This pandemic season makes these joyful songs so appropriate, bro.

   • 2022 August 5, Ngọc Nguyễn, “Lương Minh Trang và Vinh Râu thăng hạng visual, xưng hô thân thiết”, in Thể thao & Văn hóa‎^[9], Hanoi: Vietnam News Agency, archived from the original on 8 March 2023:

     Trước đấy, khi được hỏi về mối quan hệ với "vợ cũ" Lương Minh Trang, Vinh Râu không ngần ngại thừa nhận: "Chúng tôi làm tri kỷ và thường xưng hô bằng bro".

     Earlier, when asked about his relationship with his "ex" Lương Minh Trang, Vinh Râu admits, without hesitation: "We are confidants and often address each other as bro".

   • 2022 December 21, Quang Vũ, “Tóc Tiên, JustaTee hẹn fan 'cháy' cùng lễ hội Noel siêu hoành tráng tại Hà Nội [Tóc Tiên, JustaTee promises fans they'll be "on fire" at a super large-scale Christmas festival in Hanoi]”, in Thể thao & Văn hóa‎^[10], Hanoi: Vietnam News Agency, retrieved 7 March 2023:

     Giờ thì mau mau chuẩn bị lên đồ và set kèo với hội bạn để "quẩy" tung Hà Nội cùng Tóc Tiên, JustaTee, Huy DX và BNUTs thôi nào các bro ơi!

     Now hurry up and prepare to set a bet with your friends to "hang out" in Hanoi with Tóc Tiên, JustaTee, Huy DX and BNUTs, bro!

• anh
• anh em
• bạn
• bủh
• em

From Middle Welsh bro, from Proto-Brythonic *broɣ, from Proto-Celtic *mrogis. Cognate with Old Irish mruig.

• IPA^(key): /broː/
• Rhymes: -oː

bro f (plural bröydd or brofydd)

1. region, country, land, neighbourhood, native haunt
2. border, limit, boundary, march
3. vale, lowland, champaign

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke, et al., editors (1950–present), “bro”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies