brawn
/bɹɔn/noun, verb
brawn is spelled B-R-A-W-N: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 38,863rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, brawn means “Strong muscles or lean flesh, especially of the arm, leg or thumb” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of brawn is brawns.
How many letters and syllables are in brawn?
| Letters | 5: B-R-A-W-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words; the 38,863rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none 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 brawn?
Brawn appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 38,863rd 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 brawn?
- UK /bɹɔːn/
- US /bɹɔn/
- /bɹɑn/
Brawn 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-brawn.ogg, En-au-brawn.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with brawn?
11 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as brawn from its last stressed vowel (/ɔn/):
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 brawn
- brawns plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- brawning participle, present
- brawned participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does brawn mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Strong muscles or lean flesh, especially of the arm, leg or thumb.
- 2
Physical strength; muscularity.
The builders at the site had more brawn than brain.
- 3
UKHead cheese; a terrine made from the head of a pig or calf; originally boar's meat.
- 4
UKA boar.
verb
- 1
Make fat, especially of a boar.
- 2
Become fat, especially of a boar.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Brawn in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | muscle , fromage de tête, tête pressée, tête marbrée, tête fromagée |
| German | Muskelkraft , Sülze |
| Spanish | queso de cabeza, cabeza de jabalí |
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 brawn come from?
From Middle English brawne, from Old French braon (“slice of meat, fleshy part, buttock”), from Frankish *brādon, *brādan, oblique forms of *brādō (“roasted meat, ham”), from Proto-Germanic *brēdô (“meat, roast”), of uncertain further origin, but possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreh₁- (“to burn, heat”). Akin to Old High German brāto (“tender meat”) (German Braten (“roast”)), Old English brǣde, brǣd (“flesh, meat”), Old Norse bráð (“raw meat”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).