Briefed

How to spell briefed

7 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce briefed

What does briefed mean?

1. verbGave someone concise instructions or essential information in advance of a task or event.

Briefed in a sentence

• The manager briefed the team on the new safety rules before the shift.

• Reporters were briefed by the spokesperson an hour before the announcement.

Where does briefed come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This is the past tense of the verb 'brief', which traces back to the Latin adjective brevis, meaning 'short'. Through Late Latin the related noun breve described a short written document or summary, and this passed into Old French as 'bref' and then into Middle English as a term for an official letter or concise statement. By the early twentieth century the noun had given rise to a verb meaning to give someone a short, focused set of instructions or information before they act, a usage that grew strong in military and legal settings. The spelling keeps the 'ie' order seen in many words from this family, such as 'brevity' and 'abbreviate', which share the same 'short' root. The trap for writers is that 'ie' sequence and the silent shift in sound, since the final '-ed' here is pronounced as a 't'.

How the word is built

• brief (from Latin brevis: short)
• -ed (past tense suffix)