# browse

> English word · Verb · IPA /bɹaʊz/ · frequency rank #13,109

## Definitions
1. To scan, to casually look through in order to find items of interest, especially without knowledge of what to look for beforehand.
2. To move about while sampling, such as with food or products on display.
3. To navigate through hyperlinked documents on a computer, usually with a browser.
4. To move about while eating parts of plants, especially plants other than pasture, such as shrubs or trees.
5. To feed on, as pasture; to pasture on; to graze.

## Etymology
From Middle English browsen, from Old French brouster, broster (“to nibble off buds, sprouts, and bark; browse”), from brost (“a sprout, shoot, bud”), from a Germanic source, perhaps Frankish *brust (“shoot, bud”), from Proto-Germanic *brustiz (“bud, shoot”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrews- (“to swell, sprout”). Cognate with Bavarian Bross, Brosst (“a bud”), Old Saxon brustian (“to sprout”). Doublet of brut, breast, and brush.

## Easily confused with
- **bruise** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/browse-vs-bruise)
- **browser** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/browse-vs-browser)
- **browsers** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/browse-vs-browsers)
- **bros** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bros-vs-browse)
- **brow** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/brow-vs-browse)
- **bows** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bows-vs-browse)
- **Bose** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bose-vs-browse)
- **bowe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bowe-vs-browse)
- **brown** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/brown-vs-browse)
- **broke** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/broke-vs-browse)
- **blows** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/blows-vs-browse)
- **Bowie** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bowie-vs-browse)
- **Boise** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/boise-vs-browse)
- **brows** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/brows-vs-browse)
- **brews** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/brews-vs-browse)
- **bronze** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bronze-vs-browse)
- **Brooke** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/brooke-vs-browse)
- **blouse** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/blouse-vs-browse)
- **brodie** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/brodie-vs-browse)
- **bowser** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bowser-vs-browse)

## Common misspellings (9)
`bbrowse`, `borwse`, `broswe`, `browes`, `browsse`, `browwse`, `brrowse`, `brwose`, `rbowse`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/browse