briar.
Any of many plants with thorny stems growing in dense clusters, such as many in the Rosa, Rubus, and Smilax genera.
Meaning & usage
Any of many plants with thorny stems growing in dense clusters, such as many in the Rosa, Rubus, and Smilax genera.
Anything that is sharp or unpleasant to the feelings.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English brere, from Old English brēr [Old Mercian], brǣr (“briar, bramble”); further origin unknown, perhaps related to Old French bruiere (“heather”) (French bruyère). Compare Old Norse brǫrr (“briar”), whence Icelandic brörr.
Tree heath (Erica arborea), a thorny Mediterranean shrub.
A pipe for smoking, made from the roots of that shrub.
Where this word comes from
From French bruyère, assimilated with Etymology 1, above.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.