brood
/bɹud/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.25 in modern English
8
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The young of certain animals, especially a group of young birds or fowl hatched at one time by the same mother.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
The eggs and larvae of social insects such as bees, ants and some wasps, especially when gathered together in special brood chambers or combs within the colony.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "As a hen doth gather her brood under her wings."
- "Ay, lord, she will become thy bed, I warrant, / And bring thee forth brave brood."
- "Garland Green, the tenth in a brood of eleven, was born on June 24, 1942, in Dunleath, Mississippi."
- "[…] flocks of the airy brood, Cranes, geese or long-neck'd swans, here, there, proud of their pinions fly […]"
- "Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion's paws, And make the earth devour her own sweet brood […]"
- "brood ducks"
Etymology
From Middle English brood, brod, from Old English brōd (“brood; foetus; breeding, hatching”), from Proto-Germanic *brōduz (“heat, breeding”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreh₁- (“breath, mist, vapour, steam”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: brood, brōd, *brōduz, *bʰreh₁-
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /bɹud/
- British English: /bɹuːd/