brav

Breton

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French brave, from Italian bravo, from Medieval Latin *bravus, from a conflation of Latin pravus with barbarus. Cognate with Welsh braf and Cornish brav.

Adjective

brav (comparative bravoc'h, superlative bravañ, exclamative bravat)

1. beautiful

Mutation

Mutation of brav

	unmutated	soft	aspirate	hard
simple form	brav	vrav	never occurs	never occurs
comparative	bavoc'h	vavoc'h	never occurs	never occurs
superlative	bavañ	vavañ	unchanged	pavañ
exclamative	bavat	vavat	unchanged	pavat

Cornish

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French brave, from Italian bravo, from Medieval Latin *bravus, from a conflation of Latin pravus with barbarus. Cognate with Welsh braf and Breton brav.

Adjective

brav (comparative braffa, superlative an braffa)

1. fine, grand

Derived terms

• an hendedhyow brav pl (“the good old days”)
• bravder m (“bravery, finery, opulence”)

Mutation

Mutation of brav

radical	soft	aspirate	hard	mixed
brav	vrav	unchanged	prav	frav, vrav*

* after 'th
Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Cornish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

References

• “brav” in Cornish Dictionary / Gerlyver Kernewek, Akademi Kernewek.

Czech

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *borvъ.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈbraf]

Noun

brav m inan

1. outdated word for small cattle like pigs, goats, sheep

Declension

Declension of brav (sg-only hard masculine inanimate)

	singular
nominative	brav
genitive	bravu
dative	bravu
accusative	brav
vocative	brave
locative	bravu
instrumental	bravem

Further reading

• “brav”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “brav”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “brav”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2026

Danish

Etymology

From French brave, from Italian bravo, from Latin barbarus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈbʁɑˀw]

Adjective

brav (neuter bravt, plural and definite singular attributive brave)

1. brave, bold, good, worthy

   Synonyms: gæv, tapper

2. (as an adverb) very; persistently

Inflection

Inflection of brav

	positive	comparative	superlative
indefinite common singular	brav	mere brav	mest brav2
indefinite neuter singular	bravt	mere brav	mest brav2
plural	brave	mere brav	mest brav2
definite attributive1	brave	mere brav	mest brave

¹ When an adjective is applied predicatively to something definite,
the corresponding "indefinite" form is used.
² The "indefinite" superlatives may not be used attributively.

References

• “brav” in Den Danske Ordbog

German

Alternative forms

• braf (obsolete)

Etymology

From French brave.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bʁaːf/

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

Adjective

brav (strong nominative masculine singular braver, comparative braver, superlative am bravsten)

1. (of people, especially children, and pets, otherwise obsolete) good, well-behaved or reliable, obedient

   Ich verspreche, brav zu sein.

   I promise to be good.

   • 1766 September 18, Donnstags-Nachrichten von Zürich, number 38:

     Es wird zum Verkauf angetragen: […] 13. Ein brafer Gewehr-Kasten; und so man wollte, könnte man auch andere Sachen darein thun.

     It is put to sale: […] 13. A reliable rifle-chest; and if desired one could put other things in, too.

2. (of people, especially adults, dated) honest, upright, upstanding
3. (of clothes, behaviour) conventional, conservative, dowdy
4. (obsolete) lively, quick, bold, nimble, daring, racy
5. (obsolete) bold, keen, courageous

Declension

Positive forms of brav number & gender singular plural masculine feminine neuter predicative er ist brav sie ist brav es ist brav sie sind brav strong declension (without article) nominative braver brave braves brave genitive braven braver braven braver dative bravem braver bravem braven accusative braven brave braves brave weak declension (with definite article) nominative der brave die brave das brave die braven genitive des braven der braven des braven der braven dative dem braven der braven dem braven den braven accusative den braven die brave das brave die braven mixed declension (with indefinite article) nominative ein braver eine brave ein braves (keine) braven genitive eines braven einer braven eines braven (keiner) braven dative einem braven einer braven einem braven (keinen) braven accusative einen braven eine brave ein braves (keine) braven Comparative forms of brav number & gender singular plural masculine feminine neuter predicative er ist braver sie ist braver es ist braver sie sind braver strong declension (without article) nominative braverer bravere braveres bravere genitive braveren braverer braveren braverer dative braverem braverer braverem braveren accusative braveren bravere braveres bravere weak declension (with definite article) nominative der bravere die bravere das bravere die braveren genitive des braveren der braveren des braveren der braveren dative dem braveren der braveren dem braveren den braveren accusative den braveren die bravere das bravere die braveren mixed declension (with indefinite article) nominative ein braverer eine bravere ein braveres (keine) braveren genitive eines braveren einer braveren eines braveren (keiner) braveren dative einem braveren einer braveren einem braveren (keinen) braveren accusative einen braveren eine bravere ein braveres (keine) braveren Superlative forms of brav number & gender singular plural masculine feminine neuter predicative er ist am bravsten sie ist am bravsten es ist am bravsten sie sind am bravsten strong declension (without article) nominative bravster bravste bravstes bravste genitive bravsten bravster bravsten bravster dative bravstem bravster bravstem bravsten accusative bravsten bravste bravstes bravste weak declension (with definite article) nominative der bravste die bravste das bravste die bravsten genitive des bravsten der bravsten des bravsten der bravsten dative dem bravsten der bravsten dem bravsten den bravsten accusative den bravsten die bravste das bravste die bravsten mixed declension (with indefinite article) nominative ein bravster eine bravste ein bravstes (keine) bravsten genitive eines bravsten einer bravsten eines bravsten (keiner) bravsten dative einem bravsten einer bravsten einem bravsten (keinen) bravsten accusative einen bravsten eine bravste ein bravstes (keine) bravsten

Related terms

• bravieren
• Bravade

Further reading

• “brav” in Duden online
• “brav”, in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache‎^[1] (in German)
• Friedrich Kluge (1883), “brav”, in John Francis Davis, transl., Etymological Dictionary of the German Language, published 1891
• “brav” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon

Haitian Creole

Etymology

From French brave.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɣav/

Adjective

brav

1. brave

Related terms

• bravou

References

• Targète, Jean; Urciolo, Raphael (1993), Haitian Creole-English Dictionary‎^[2], Dunwoody Press, →ISBN, page 32

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Low German brav and French brave, from Italian bravo.

Adjective

brav (masculine and feminine brav, neuter bravt, definite singular and plural brave, comparative bravere, indefinite superlative bravest, definite superlative braveste)

1. (literary) brave
2. (obsolete) good

Synonyms

• modig

References

• “brav” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “brav” in Norwegian Academy Dictionary (NAOB).

Romanian

Etymology

Etymology tree

Italian bravo

French bravebor.

Romanian brav

Borrowed from French brave, from Italian bravo.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /brav/
• Rhymes: -av

Adjective

brav m or n (feminine singular bravă, masculine plural bravi, feminine/neuter plural brave)

1. brave, courageous

   Synonyms: viteaz, curajos, îndrăzneț

Declension

Declension of brav

		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	brav		bravă	bravi	brave
	definite	bravul		brava	bravii	bravele
genitive- dative	indefinite	brav		brave	bravi	brave
	definite	bravului		bravei	bravilor	bravelor

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *borvъ.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /brâːʋ/

Noun

brȃv m inan (Cyrillic spelling бра̑в)

1. male sheep or goat

   Synonyms: jarac, ovan

2. wether

Declension

Declension of brav

	singular	plural
nominative	brav	bravi
genitive	brava	brava
dative	bravu	bravima
accusative	brava	brave
vocative	brave	bravi
locative	bravu	bravima
instrumental	bravom	bravima

Further reading

• “brav”, in Hrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2026

Slovak

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *borvъ.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /brav/, [ˈbrau̯]
• Rhymes: -av

Noun

brav m animal (diminutive bravček)

1. barrow, castrated male pig

Derived terms

• bravčový
• bravčovina

Further reading

• “brav”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2003–2026