bra

/bɹɑː/

//bɹɑː// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"bra" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“bra” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #8,898) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#8,898
frequency rank, English
4,121
“B” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - An item of clothing, usually underwear worn to support the breasts.

Corpus desk

Index EN-bra · bra · English

bra · rank #8,898 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #8,898
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,121
  • PHOTO-FINISH blogger

Nearest frequency peer: blogger (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Frequency neighbours of confusable “bra”

Peers at similar corpus weight, separate from look-alike pairs below

corpus weight

What this shows Bars place “bra” against nearest ranked English headwords, not a reprint of the confusable-pair desk.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

bra vs by
33% similar
bra vs BS
0% similar
bra vs Bt
0% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for bra
PropertyValue
Headwordbra
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/bɹɑː/
Letters3
Frequency rank#8,898
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus rank beside confusables of “bra”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).bralands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Same rarity band neighbours include “blogger” (#8,897), “Brighton” (#8,899), “bets” (#8,896). Among 4,121 “B” headwords, “bra” is #8,898. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for bra is neighbouring look-alikes ("by", "BS", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced /bɹɑː/. Frequency #8,898 among 4,121 “B” headwords. Gloss: "An item of clothing, usually underwear worn to support the breasts.".

bra doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "by", "BS", "Bt", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: Clipping of brassiere, borrowed from French brassière, from Old French braciere (originally a lining inside armor to protect the arm, but later a garment), from Old French brace (“arm”), from Latin bracchia, plural of Latin bracchium (“forearm”), from Ancie… The correct English form is bra, spelled B-R-A.

Definition

  1. 1
    An item of clothing, usually underwear worn to support the breasts.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how bra appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Mary felt annoyed at the girl; just because bras had become passé, did a girl with so pronounced a bosom have to cater to fashion? In this case practicality dictated a bra, and Mary stood at the desk feeling herself flushing with disapproval.
  2. Her housecoat had fallen open. She was wearing only panties and bra, which did nothing to make her scrawny, wrinkled body appealing.

Etymology

Clipping of brassiere, borrowed from French brassière, from Old French braciere (originally a lining inside armor to protect the arm, but later a garment), from Old French brace (“arm”), from Latin bracchia, plural of Latin bracchium (“forearm”), from Ancient Greek βραχίων (brakhíōn, “forearm”), from Proto-Hellenic *brəkʰús (“short”) (because the forearm is shorter than the upper arm), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *mréǵʰus.

This word in other languages

ajustador(Español)soutien-gorge(Français)Büstenhalter(Deutsch)sutiã(Português)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "bra"?
"bra" is spelled B-R-A. The IPA pronunciation is /bɹɑː/.
What does "bra" mean?
As a noun, "bra" means: An item of clothing, usually underwear worn to support the breasts.
What words are commonly confused with "bra"?
"bra" is commonly confused with "by", "BS", "Bt". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "bra"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "bra" is /bɹɑː/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "bra"?
Clipping of brassiere, borrowed from French brassière, from Old French braciere (originally a lining inside armor to protect the arm, but later a garment), from Old French brace (“arm”), from Latin bracchia, plural of Latin bracchium (“forearm”), ... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "bra", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

ATM#8,891URL#8,874rig#8,850MLB#8,959

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list