бре

Bulgarian

Etymology

Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish بره (bre), from Byzantine Greek βρέ (bré), probably shortened from μωρέ (mōré, “man!”, literally “fool!”), the vocative of μωρός (mōrós, “dull”).

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): [brɛ]
  • Audio(file)

Interjection

бре • (bre)

  1. used for emphasis along with vocative appellations
    Кажи що сакаш, бре!
    Kaži što sakaš, bre!
    Say what's on your mind, fool!
    Бре, отиде конят у ряката!
    Bre, otide konjat u rjakata!
    Mate, the situation got totally screwed!
    (literally, “Mate, the horse has gone into the river!”)
  2. used as an intensifier in expressive phrases
    Ха бре, у бре!
    Ha bre, u bre!
    Hop-on, hop-off!
    Чиба, бре!
    Čiba, bre!
    Shoo, shoo!

Alternative forms

References
  • “бре”, in Речник на българския език [Dictionary of the Bulgarian Language] (in Bulgarian), Sofia: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 2014
  • “бре”, in Речник на българския език [Dictionary of the Bulgarian Language] (in Bulgarian), Chitanka, 2010
  • Georgiev, Vladimir I., editor (1971), “бре, брей”, in Български етимологичен речник [Bulgarian Etymological Dictionary] (in Bulgarian), volumes 1 (А – З), Sofia: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Pubg. House, →ISBN, page 75

Macedonian

Etymology

Possibly from Ottoman Turkish بره (bre), from Byzantine Greek βρέ (bré) (compare Turkish bre, Serbo-Croatian бре, Albanian bre, and Greek μωρέ (moré), βρε (vre) and ρε (re)), probably shortened from μωρέ (mōré, “man!”, literally “fool!”), in which case it would be a doublet of море (more).

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): [brɛ]

Interjection

бре • (bre)

  1. (intensifier) used to express aggression, impatience, fervor or similar emotions
  2. (intensifier) used to intensify vocatives, conveying the emotions explained above

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

Possibly from Ottoman Turkish بره (bre), from Byzantine Greek βρέ (bré) (compare Turkish bre, Macedonian бре (bre), Albanian bre, and Greek μωρέ (moré), βρε (vre) and ρε (re)), probably shortened from μωρέ (mōré, “man!”, literally “fool!”), in which case it would be a doublet of мо̑ре.

Interjection

бре (Latin spelling bre)

  1. (intensifier) used to express passion about the point of a sentence, at any part of a sentence
  2. (intensifier) similar to English fuck or hell, but not vulgar, e.g.:
    Шта си бре то урадио!? ― What the fuck did you do!?
  3. hey
  4. (slang) yo
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