Bring

How to spell bring

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce bring

What does bring mean?

1. verbTo carry, convey, or take something or someone to a place or person.

Bring in a sentence

• Please bring your passport to the airport check-in desk.

• The courier will bring the parcel before noon.

Where does bring come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is an old native English word, coming from the Old English bringan, which meant 'to carry, lead, or bring along'. It traces back to a Proto-Germanic root bringaną, the same source that gave Dutch brengen and German bringen their nearly identical meanings. Unusually for such an ordinary verb, its past tense 'brought' preserves an irregular pattern inherited from the earliest Germanic forms rather than following the modern -ed rule. The spelling has stayed remarkably stable for over a thousand years, with the -ing ending here being part of the root rather than the familiar verb suffix. Because it is short and phonetically regular, it sits among the most frequently used verbs in everyday English.

How the word is built

• bring (a single Old English root verb; no prefix or suffix in the base form)