Brought
verbThe past tense and past participle of 'bring': carried or conveyed something or someone to a place.
How to spell brought
7 letters · 1 syllable
How to pronounce brought
What does brought mean?
- verbThe past tense and past participle of 'bring': carried or conveyed something or someone to a place.
Brought in a sentence
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She brought a cake to the party.
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Who brought the wine?
Where does brought come from?
Language of origin: Germanic
Brought is the past tense and past participle of the verb 'bring', which comes from the Old English bringan, meaning 'to carry, convey, or fetch'. The same Germanic root appears in Dutch 'brengen' and German 'bringen', all descending from a Proto-Germanic verb that meant to bear something along. Old English already had the irregular past form 'brohte', and that early shape explains why the modern word keeps its odd '-ought' spelling rather than a regular '-ed' ending. The 'gh' in brought was once a real throaty sound (like the 'ch' in Scottish 'loch'), but English speakers stopped pronouncing it centuries ago, leaving the silent letters that trap writers today. Because the spelling now bears no relation to how the word sounds (just B R AO1 T), brought is easy to confuse with its near twin 'bought', the past tense of 'buy'.
How the word is built
- br- (from Old English bringan: to carry, convey)
- -ought (past-tense form)
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