brillig
noun
brillig is spelled B-R-I-L-L-I-G: 7 letters. It appears about once in every 87 million words in written English, the 297,763rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, brillig means “A nonce word in Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky, explained by Humpty Dumpty as "four o'clock in the afternoon – the time when you begin broiling things…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in brillig?
| Letters | 7: B-R-I-L-L-I-G |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 87 million words; the 297,763rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none 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 brillig?
Brillig appears about once in every 87 million words in written English, the 297,763rd 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).
What does brillig mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A nonce word in Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky, explained by Humpty Dumpty as "four o'clock in the afternoon – the time when you begin broiling things for dinner."
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Brillig in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense nonce word:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | brilgue |
| German | brillig |
| Portuguese | briluz |
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 brillig come from?
Supposedly from bryl or broil.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).