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PlainSpell

brass

UK /bɹɑːs/noun, adjective, verb

brass is spelled B-R-A-S-S: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 11 times per million words in written English, the 6,565th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, brass means “A memorial or sepulchral tablet usually made of brass or latten: a monumental brass” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of brass is brasses.

How many letters and syllables are in brass?

Letters5: B-R-A-S-S
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing11 times per million words; the 6,565th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is brass?

Brass appears 11 times per million words in written English, the 6,565th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce brass?

  • UK /bɹɑːs/
  • /bɹas/
  • /bɹas/

Brass has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-brass.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with brass?

4 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as brass from its last stressed vowel (/ɑs/, British pronunciation):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of brass

  • brasses plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • more brass comparative
  • most brass superlative
  • brassing participle, present
  • brassed participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does brass mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    A memorial or sepulchral tablet usually made of brass or latten: a monumental brass.

  2. 2

    Fittings, utensils, or other items made of brass.

  3. 3

    A class of wind instruments, usually made of metal (such as brass), that use vibrations of the player's lips to produce sound; a band or the section of an orchestra that features such instruments.

    A few measures later, the brass comes in strong!

  4. 4

    Spent cartridge casings (usually made of brass): the part of the cartridge left over after bullets or shells have been fired.

  5. 5

    The color of brass (etymology 1, noun sense 1).

  6. 6

    High-ranking officers: the brass hats.

    The brass are not going to like this.

  7. 7

    informalA brave or foolhardy attitude; impudence.

    You've got a lot of brass telling me to do that!

  8. 8

    datedslangMoney.

  9. 9

    slangA prostitute.

  10. 10

    obsoleteSynonym of brace, a traditional unit of measure equivalent to a fathom (6 feet) or about 1.6 m, especially as the Spanish braza and Portuguese braça, also French brasse.

adjective

  1. 1

    Made of brass, of or pertaining to brass.

  2. 2

    Of the color of brass.

  3. 3

    informalImpertinent, bold: brazen.

    Maybe (probably so), but it's rare someone is brass enough to post a msg for all to see asking for a software key, that the vast majority have paid for in support of the development effort.

  4. 4

    slangBad, annoying; as wordplay applied especially to brass instruments.

    Mr. REGINALD SMITH, KC, the publisher, followed, but he had hardly begun his very interesting remarks when a procession headed by a very brass band entered Smithfield from the west, and approached the platform.

  5. 5

    Of inferior composition.

  6. 6

    slangBrass monkey; cold.

verb

  1. 1

    To coat with brass.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Brass in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchlaiton (alloy of copper and zinc), en laiton (made of brass (attributive use)), cuivres (class of wind instruments), douille (spent shell casings), galonnés (high-ranking military officers), couleur de laiton (of color of brass)
GermanMessing (alloy of copper and zinc), messingen, aus Messing (made of brass (attributive use)), Blechblasinstrumente, Blech (class of wind instruments), Messingfarbe (color of brass)
Portugueselatão (alloy of copper and zinc), de latão (made of brass (attributive use)), metais (class of wind instruments), bronze (color of brass), dinheiro (slang: money), prostituta (slang: a prostitute)
Spanishlatón, azófar, alatón (alloy of copper and zinc), cobres (class of wind instruments), casquillo (spent shell casings), plata (slang: money)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does brass come from?

From Middle English bras, bres, from Old English bræs (“brass, bronze”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps representing a backformation from Proto-Germanic *brasnaz (“brazen”), from or related to *brasō (“fire, pyre”). Compare Old Norse and Icelandic bras (“solder”), Icelandic brasa (“to harden in the fire”), Swedish brasa (“a small controlled fire”), Danish brase (“to fry”); French braser ("to solder"; > English braise) from the same Germanic root.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after brass