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PlainSpell

brick

/ˈbɹɪk/noun, verb, adjective

brick is spelled B-R-I-C-K: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 18 times per million words in written English, the 4,667th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, brick means “A hardened rectangular block of mud, clay etc., used for building” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of brick is bricks.

How many letters and syllables are in brick?

Letters5: B-R-I-C-K
Syllables1
In writing18 times per million words; the 4,667th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is brick?

Brick appears 18 times per million words in written English, the 4,667th 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 brick?

  • /ˈbɹɪk/
  • /ˈbɹɘk/

Brick has one syllable.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-brick.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-brick.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of brick

  • bricks plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • bricking participle, present
  • bricked participle, past

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

What does brick mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A hardened rectangular block of mud, clay etc., used for building.

    This wall is made of bricks.

  2. 2

    Such hardened mud, clay, etc. considered collectively, as a building material.

    This house is made of brick.

  3. 3

    Something shaped like a brick.

    a plastic explosive brick

  4. 4

    The colour brick red.

  5. 5

    datedslangA helpful and reliable person.

    Thanks for helping me wash the car. You’re a brick.

  6. 6

    slangA shot which misses, particularly one which bounces directly out of the basket because of a too-flat trajectory, as if the ball were a heavier object.

    See also: put up a brick

  7. 7

    informalA power brick; an external power supply consisting of a small box with an integral male plug and an attached cord terminating in another plug.

  8. 8

    slangAn electronic device, especially a heavy box-shaped one, that has become non-functional or obsolete.

verb

  1. 1

    To build, line, or form with bricks.

    to be bricked alive (as a form of capital punishment)

  2. 2

    To make into bricks.

  3. 3

    slangTo hit someone or something with a brick.

  4. 4

    slangTo make (an electronic device) non-functional and usually beyond repair, as a result of software or configuration issues.

    My VCR was bricked during the lightning storm.

  5. 5

    slangOf an electronic device, to become non-functional, especially in a way beyond repair, as a result of software or configuration issues.

    My phone bricked halfway through the videoconference.

  6. 6

    slangTo blunder; to screw up.

adjective

  1. 1

    colloquialExtremely cold.

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

Brick in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchbrique (hardened block used for building), rouge brique (color), soutien (term for a helpful, reliable person), briquer, bricker (electronics: to render non-functional), en brique (made of brick(s))
GermanBackstein, Ziegel (hardened block used for building), bricken (electronics: to render non-functional), externes Netzteil (an external power supply)
Portuguesetijolo (hardened block used for building), mão (term for a helpful, reliable person), de tijolo (made of brick(s))
Spanishladrillo, tabique, briqueta, rasilla, ladriello (hardened block used for building)

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 brick come from?

From Late Middle English brik, bryke, bricke, from Middle Low German and Middle Dutch bricke ("cracked or broken brick; tile-stone"; modern Dutch brik), ultimately related to Proto-West Germanic *brekan (“to break”), whence also Old French briche and French brique (“brick”). Compare also German Low German Brickje (“small board, tray”). Related to break. The social media slang sense derives from memes about building up one's feed “brick by brick”, analogizing bricks with reels that inform the algorithm.

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

What to look up after brick