bran

UK/ˈbɹæn/US/ˈbɹæn/

nounB2+Common in everyday speech and writing · #7,299 of 15,258neutral

Bran is the husk of grain, separated in milling. Wheat bran, bran flakes, add bran to the mix.

It is the outer layer, and removing it is what makes flour white and what removes most of the fibre and much of the mineral content. Wholemeal flour keeps it in. It was fed to animals for centuries before anybody thought of eating it deliberately.

Definitions of bran

1nounbranThe husk of grain, separated in milling.B2+
“She adds a spoonful of bran to her porridge for extra fibre.”

bran is a food.

Where it comes from

Old French bran meant bran or filth, probably from a Gaulish word meaning rotten.

Proto-Indo-European
*bʰreHg-
Proto-Celtic
*bragnos — rotten, foul
cel-gau
brennos — rotten
Old French
bren
Middle English
bran
English, today
bran

Built from

bran · Old French — bran, filth

From Middle English bran, branne, bren, from Old French bren, bran (“bran, filth”), from cel-gau brennos (“rotten”), from Proto-Celtic bragnos (“rotten, foul”) (compare Welsh braen (“stench”), Irish bréan (“rancid”), wa brin (“excrement”)), from Proto-Indo-European bʰreHg- (compare Latin fragrāre (“to smell strongly”), Dutch brak (“hound”)).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

bran in the wild

The brand was solely owned by the original Kellogg Company before it spun off its North American cereal division as WK Kellogg Co in late 2023.
Froot Loops
Raisin bran (sultana bran in some countries) is a breakfast cereal containing raisins and bran flakes.
Raisin bran
Though Raisin Bran is generally perceived as a healthier alternative to more sugary cereals, most popular brands of raisin bran contain high amounts of sugar.
Raisin bran
Corn (maize) bran also includes the pedicel (tip cap).
Bran
Along with bran, germ is often a by-product of the milling that produces refined grain products.
Cereal germ

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

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