brand new
/ˈbɹænd ˌn(j)uː/
"brand-new" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“brand new” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Utterly new, as new as possible.
Corpus desk
Index EN-brand-new · brand new · English
brand new · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "B" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | brand new |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈbɹænd ˌn(j)uː/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “brand new” in English
Rare enough to double-check
brand new is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˈbɹænd ˌn(j)uː/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
brand new has no tracked misspelling variants, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: From brand (“firebrand”) + new, implying something that is newly forged (first citation 1570; compare fire-new (“fresh from the fire, brand-new”)). Alternatively, and less likely from brand as in a branding iron (i.e. newly-branded). The first element of th… The correct English form is brand new, spelled B-R-A-N-D- -N-E-W.
Definition
- 1Utterly new, as new as possible.
- 2Acting in a way unusual for oneself.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how brand new appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
New bodies, new minds ... and all thinges new, brande-newe
two pair of bran-new plumpers
Etymology
From brand (“firebrand”) + new, implying something that is newly forged (first citation 1570; compare fire-new (“fresh from the fire, brand-new”)). Alternatively, and less likely from brand as in a branding iron (i.e. newly-branded). The first element of the variant bran new, with the post nasal stop deletion common to English (compare the common pronunciation (outside Britain) of hunting as hunning [hʌnɪŋ]), is often back-etymologized as being from bran as if from cases where new items were supposedly “packaged up with unwanted grain (bran) in the 18th century to protect the objects during transit” (source unknown). Both variants are well attested.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.