Bro

How to spell bro

3 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce bro

What does bro mean?

1. nounAn informal term for a brother or, more loosely, a close male friend.

Bro in a sentence

• My bro helped me move the sofa up three flights of stairs.

• He greeted his old teammate with a quick hug and called him bro.

Where does bro come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word is simply a clipped, shortened form of 'brother', and 'brother' itself comes from the Old English 'brothor', a thoroughly native Germanic word for a male sibling that traces back to the same ancient root found across the Indo-European languages (Latin 'frater', Sanskrit 'bhratr', and so on). The short form 'bro' began as a casual, affectionate trimming of the full word and is recorded in American English from at least the nineteenth century, often in informal or regional speech. Over the twentieth century it broadened well beyond family, becoming a friendly term of address for a male friend or peer, much like 'mate' or 'pal'. In recent decades it has spread globally through music, sport, and online culture, and even spawned playful spin-offs such as 'bromance'. Because the spelling mirrors the way it sounds and keeps the opening of 'brother', it is one of the easier informal words to write.

How the word is built

• bro (clipped form of 'brother')