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brunt

UK/bɹʌnt/US/bɹʌnt/
nounB2+Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #10,608 of 15,258neutral

The brunt is the main force of a blow or an attack. Bear the brunt, took the brunt, the brunt of the criticism.

The word survives almost only in bear the brunt of, which means to absorb the worst of something — and the thing absorbed is usually shared unfairly, which is why the phrase so often carries a complaint. Note that the origin is Norse and uncertain, perhaps from a word meaning to rush forward.

Definitions of brunt

  1. 1nounbruntThe main force of a blow or an attack.B2+

    “The coastal towns took the brunt of the storm.”

brunt is a main force.

Where it comes from

Middle English brunt meant a sudden attack, probably from Old Norse. The exact source is uncertain.

  1. Proto-Germanic

    *brunstiz

  2. Old Norse

    brundr

  3. Middle English

    brunt

  4. English, today

    brunt

Built from

  • bront · Middle English — sudden onset, attack, charge, blow
  • brundtíð · Old Norse — oestrus, rut
  • bruna · Old Norse — to rush (literally “to advance like wildfire”)

From Middle English brunt, bront (“sudden onset, attack, charge, blow”), from Old Norse brundr or brundtíð (“oestrus, rut”) (from Proto-Germanic brunstiz), or bruna (“to rush”) literally “to advance like wildfire” (see brenna).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Song of Ice and Fire

Practise this word