brand

From Middle English brand, from Old English brand (“fire; flame; burning; torch; sword”), from Proto-West Germanic *brand, from Proto-Germanic *brandaz (“flame; flaming; fire-brand; torch; sword”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrenu- (“to bubble forth; brew; spew forth; burn”).

Cognate with Scots brand, West Frisian brân (“fire”), Dutch brand, German Brand, Swedish brand (“blaze, fire”), Icelandic brandur, French brand (< Germanic). More distantly cognate with Proto-Slavic *gorěti (“to burn”).

• IPA^(key): /bɹænd/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ænd

brand (plural brands)

1. (obsolete, rare) A flame.
   • 1559, Jasper Heywood, transl., Troas:

     Goe to prepare the maryages what neede the torchis light? be holde the towres of troy do shyne with brandes that blase full bright.

   • 1559, Jasper Heywood, transl., Troas:

     Is yet againe thy brest enflamde, / with brande of venus might

2. (obsolete, rare) A conflagration.
3. (archaic or poetic) A piece of burning wood or peat, or a glowing cinder.

   to burn something to brands and ashes

   • 1513, Gavin Douglas, The Eneados:

     The fearful brands and bleezes of het fire.

   • 1859-1890, John Gorham Palfrey, History of New England to the Revolutionary War

     Snatching a live brand from a wigwam, Mason threw it on a matted roof.

   • 1835, [Washington Irving], chapter VI, in A Tour on the Prairies (The Crayon Miscellany; no. 1), Philadelphia, Pa.: [Henry Charles] Carey, [Isaac] Lea, & Blanchard, →OCLC, page 47:

     About three o'clock, we came to a recent camping place of the company of rangers: the brands of one of their fires were still smoking; so that, according to the opinion of Beatte, they could not have passed on above a day previously.

   • 1559, Jasper Heywood, transl., Troas:

     Or when amid the Grecians shippes, / he threw the brandes of fyre.

4. (Scotland, Northern England) A torch used for signaling.
5. (archaic) A sword.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     Paradise, so late their happy seat, / Waved over by that flaming brand.

   • 1834 September (date written), Alfred Tennyson, “Sir Galahad”, in Poems. […], volume II, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, stanza I, page 174:

     The shattering trumpet shrilleth high, / The hard brands shiver on the steel, / The splintered spear-shafts crack and fly, / The horse and rider reel: […]

6. A mark or scar made by burning with a hot iron, especially to mark cattle or to classify the contents of a cask.
   • 1982 December 4, Mitzel, “A Sissy's Revenge”, in Gay Community News, volume 10, number 20, page 9:

     The indelible word "homosexual," like a brand that grew deeper and redder every day, became increasingly hard to conceal and to ignore.

   Hyponym: badge

7. A branding iron.
8. The symbolic identity, represented by a name and/or a logo, which indicates a certain product or service to the public.

   Synonyms: trademark, logo, brand name, marque, tradename, proprietary name

   • 1999, Bernd Schmitt, Experiential marketing, page 39:

     The Amtrak brand revitalization approach represents one of the most ambitious, comprehensive, and systematic experiential marketing approaches I have ever seen.

   • 2000, Duane E. Knapp, The Brandmindset, page 67:

     In this way, every Citibanker becomes a brand manager and an ambassador of the Citibank brand. ... Indeed, the Citibank brand will "never sleep"

   • 2010, Gayle Soucek, Marshall Field's: The Store That Helped Build Chicago, page 136:

     Mr. Lundgren claimed that Federated had conducted a focus group and the analysis showed that most people were either indifferent to the name change or preferred the Macy's brand.

   • 2013 July 20, “The attack of the MOOCs”, in The Economist‎^[1], volume 408, number 8845:

     Since the launch early last year of […] two Silicon Valley start-ups offering free education through MOOCs, massive open online courses, the ivory towers of academia have been shaken to their foundations. University brands built in some cases over centuries have been forced to contemplate the possibility that information technology will rapidly make their existing business model obsolete.

9. A specific product, service, or provider so distinguished.

   Some brands of breakfast cereal contain a lot of sugar.

10. (by extension) Any specific type or variety of something; a distinct style or manner.

    I didn’t appreciate his particular brand of flattery.

    New Orleans brand sausage; Danish brand ham

    • 2014 November 17, Roger Cohen, “The horror! The horror! The trauma of ISIS [print version: International New York Times, 18 November 2014, p. 9]”, in The New York Times‎^[2]:

      [O]ne minute this "Jihadi John" was struggling to get by, and get accepted, in drizzly England, unemployed with a mortgage to pay and a chip on his shoulder, and the next he stands in brilliant Levantine sunlight, where everything is clear and etched, at the vanguard of some Sunni Risorgimento intent on subjecting the world to its murderous brand of Wahhabi Islam.

11. The public image or reputation and recognized, typical style of an individual or group.

    Synonyms: repute, name, good name

    • 2011, Tom Bevan, Carl M. Cannon, Election 2012: The Battle Begins, Crown, →ISBN:

      The Obama brand had taken a hit two months earlier, when he campaigned for Creigh Deeds in Virginia and Jon Corzine in New Jersey, only to see them both lose.

    • 2012, Start Your Own Personal Concierge Service, Entrepreneur Press, →ISBN, page 104:

      Her brand is edgy, cosmopolitan, and out-of-the-box, so blogging is the perfect, ever-changing match for her.

    • 2019, Sally Thorne, 99 Percent Mine: A Novel, HarperCollins, →ISBN:

      He unplugged my umbilical cord to take a leisurely swig, smirking, watching me turn blue before giving it back. My cardiologist told me that was impossible, but I'm still convinced. That's very on-brand for [my twin] Jamie.

    • 2022 May 14, David Segal, quoting Simon Kuper, “An Outsider Takes an Inside Look at the Oxford ‘Chums’ Who Run the U.K.”, in The New York Times‎^[3], →ISSN:

      “We made fun of [Jacob Rees-Mogg] in the paper” — that would be Cherwell, Oxford’s student-run weekly, where Kuper was a reporter — “all the while not realizing that we were helping to build his brand.”

12. A mark of infamy; stigma.
13. Any minute fungus producing a burnt appearance in plants.

• brandish

brand (third-person singular simple present brands, present participle branding, simple past and past participle branded)

1. (transitive) To burn the flesh with a hot iron, either as a marker (for criminals, slaves etc.) or to cauterise a wound.

   When they caught him, he was branded and then locked up.

   • 1880, Richard Francis Burton, Os Lusíadas, volume II, page 405:

     Man's flesh they eat: their own they paint and sear, / branding with burning iron, — usage fere!

2. (transitive) To mark (especially cattle) with a brand as proof of ownership.

   The ranch hands had to brand every new calf by lunchtime.

3. (transitive) To make an indelible impression on the memory or senses.

   Her face is branded upon my memory.

4. (transitive) To stigmatize, label (someone).

   He was branded a fool by everyone that heard his story.

   • 1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter II, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

     I had never defrauded a man of a farthing, nor called him knave behind his back. But now the last rag that covered my nakedness had been torn from me. I was branded a blackleg, card-sharper, and murderer.

   • 2011 October 23, Phil McNulty, “Man Utd 1-6 Man City”, in BBC Sport:

     As Ferguson strode briskly towards the Stretford End at the final whistle, he will have been reflecting on the extent of the challenge now facing him from the club he once branded "noisy neighbours".

5. (transitive, marketing) To associate a product or service with a trademark or other name and related images.

   They branded the new detergent "Suds-O", with a nature scene inside a green O on the muted-colored recycled-cardboard box.

6. (intransitive) To be very hot, to burn.
   • 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, Canto II:

     O, not for thee the glow, the bloom,
     ⁠Who changest not in any gale,
     ⁠Nor branding summer suns avail
     To touch thy thousand years of gloom: […]

• brand new
• rebrand

• “brand”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• brand in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018.
• “brand”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

• IPA^(key): /brant/

From Dutch brand, from Middle Dutch brant, from Old Dutch *brand, from Proto-Germanic *brandaz.

brand (plural brande, diminutive brandjie)

1. destructive, catastrophic fire (such as a house fire)

   Daar was 'n vreeslike brand in die wildtuin.

   There was a horrible fire in the nature reserve.

From Dutch branden, from Middle Dutch branden.

brand (present brand, present participle brandende, past participle gebrand)

1. (ergative) to burn

   Die kerse brand so pragtig, dis sprokiesagtig!

   The candles burn so gorgeously, it's picturesque!

   Die kleuter het 'n gat in my tafelkleed gebrand.

   That toddler has burnt a hole in my tablecloth.

From Old Danish brand, from Old Norse brandr, from Proto-Germanic *brandaz, compare with Swedish brand, English brand, German Brand.

• IPA^(key): /branˀ/, [ˈb̥ʁɑnˀ]
• Homophone: brænd

brand c (singular definite branden, plural indefinite brande)

1. fire (large, destructive fire, as in a building)
2. smut (plant disease)

• “brand,1” in Den Danske Ordbog

Borrowed from English brand, cognate with the former word.

• IPA^(key): /braːnd/, [ˈb̥ɹæːnd̥]

brand n (singular definite brandet, plural indefinite brands)

1. brand (public image)
2. brand (a specific product)

• “brand,2” in Den Danske Ordbog

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

• IPA^(key): /braːnd/, [ˈb̥ɹæːnd̥]

brand

1. imperative of brande

• IPA^(key): /brɑnt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: brand
• Rhymes: -ɑnt
• Homophones: brandt, Brand, Brandt

From Middle Dutch brant, from Old Dutch brant, from Proto-West Germanic *brand, from Proto-Germanic *brandaz.

brand m (plural branden, diminutive brandje n)

1. destructive, catastrophic fire (such as a house fire)

   Die vreselijke brand was veroorzaakt doordat een kleuter met kaarsen speelde.

   That terrible fire originated because a toddler was playing with candles.

• Afrikaans: brand
• Negerhollands: bran
  • → Virgin Islands Creole: bran
• → Sranan Tongo: branti

• rook
• vuur

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

brand

1. inflection of branden:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
   3. imperative

Inherited from Middle French brand, from Old French brant, from Frankish *brand (“firebrand, flaming sword”), from Proto-Germanic *brandaz (“firebrand, torch, sword”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrenu- (“to burn”). Cognate with Old High German brant (“fire, firebrand, burning iron”), Old English brand (“fire, flame, brand, torch, sword, weapon”), Old Norse brandr (“fire, firebrand, sword”). More at English brand.

• IPA^(key): /bʁɑ̃/

brand m (plural brands)

1. (archaic) a sword

• “brand”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

brand

1. indefinite accusative singular of brandur

Unadapted borrowing from English brand.

brand m (invariable)

1. brand (product symbol)

• braund, brend, brond, broond

From Old English brand, brond, from Proto-West Germanic *brand, from Proto-Germanic *brandaz.

• IPA^(key): /brand/, /braːnd/
• (from OE brond) IPA^(key): /brɔnd/, /brɔːnd/

brand (plural brandes)

1. fire, flame
2. burning wood or coal
3. torch (lit stick)
   • c. 1395, John Wycliffe, John Purvey [et al.], transl., Bible (Wycliffite Bible (later version), MS Lich 10.)‎^[4], published c. 1410, Apocalips 8:10-11, page 120r, column 1; republished as Wycliffe's translation of the New Testament, Lichfield: Bill Endres, 2010:

     And þe þꝛidde aungel trumpide .· ⁊ a greet ſterre bꝛennynge as a litil bꝛond felde fro heuene ⁊ it felde in to þe þꝛidde part of floodis .· ⁊ in to þe wellis of watris ⁊ þe name of þe ſterre is ſeid wermod ⁊ þe þꝛidde part of watris .· was maad in to wermod ⁊ manye men weren deed of þe watris .· for þo weren maad bittir

     And the third angel blew his trumpet, then a great star burning like a little torch fell from heaven; it fell upon a third of [the world's] rivers and water sources. The name of the star is Wormwood, and a third of the [world's] water was turned into wormwood; many people died from that water because it'd been made bitter.

4. (chiefly poetic) sword, blade

• English: brand
• Scots: brand
• Yola: broan, brone

• “brā̆nd, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

From Old Norse brandr. Doublet of brann.

brand m (definite singular branden, indefinite plural brandar, definite plural brandane)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.
2. (pre-1938) alternative form of brann; fire

• “brand” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

• IPA^(key): /brand/

brand m (plural brands)

1. (nautical) pitch (movement around the beam axis)

From Old Norse brandr.

brand

1. fire (occurrence of fire in a certain place)

• Danish: brand

• brond

From Proto-West Germanic *brand, from Proto-Germanic *brandaz.

• IPA^(key): /brɑnd/

brand m

1. firebrand; torch
2. (poetic) a sword

Strong a-stem:

• Middle English: brand, brond
  • English: brand
  • Scots: brand

brand

1. indefinite accusative singular of brandr

Borrowed from English brand.

brand n (plural branduri)

1. brand

From Old Swedish brander, from Old Norse brandr, from Proto-Germanic *brandaz, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrenu-. A derivative of brinna.

• IPA^(key): /brand/, [bran̪ːd̪]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -and

brand c

1. a larger, uncontrolled fire (due to an accident, arson, or the like), a conflagration

   Antonym: eld (“controlled fire”)

   en skogsbrand

   a forest fire

   en anlagd brand

   a fire that has been deliberately set (implying arson)

2. (archaic, poetic) a sword

• brand in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• brand in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• brand in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)
• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “brand”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.