bro
nounUK /ˈbɹəʊ̯/ · CA, US /ˈbɹoʊ̯/
Etymology PIE word *bʰréh₂tēr Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰréh₂tēr Proto-Germanic *brōþēr Proto-West Germanic *brōþer Old English brōþor Middle English brother English brotherclip. English bro Spelling pronunciation and clipping of brother. (Contrast bruh, which is a clipping of the pronunciation of brother rather than the spelling.) Compare Swedish bror.
Slang Brother (a male sibling).
- My mom took my lil' bro to soccer practice now and she wanted me to pick him up.
Slang Brother (a comrade or friend; one who shares one’s ideals).
- Bro, you good? You've been lookin' kinda out of it lately.
- Let’s not kid ourselves – there are plenty of men saying that Will has been emasculated by Jada, because hurr durr why would he hit a bro over a woman.2022 May 4, “A$AP Rocky: Will Smith 'emasculated' Chris Rock but 'it's more than just a GI Jane joke'”, in Cele|bitchy, archived from the original on 08 Feb 2025:
1 more example
- Her breakout was the 2017 production “Nate” (available as a Netflix special) in which she played a toxic, handsy bro who drove a motorcycle onstage, guzzling beers, groping audience members and creating chaos.2025 October 7, Jason Zinoman, “What Clowns! (That’s a Compliment)”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 07 Oct 2025:
Slang Brother, my man, good sir; a friendly term of address for typically men.
- Near-synonym: man
- don't tase me, bro
2 more examples
- Hey bro, sorry to bother you but I think I accidentally backed up into your car — can I make it up to you?
- Bro said he finna go off today!
Slang A frat boy or someone who espouses the fraternity bro culture.
Derogatory, In compounds, Slang, Usually Someone, usually male, who aggressively evangelizes a person, concept or technology.
- Pfeiffer's partners at Pod Save America — the audio outpost of the resistance that had made a collection of Obama Bros niche superstars, had invested as producers in a documentary about the Senate run.2021 May 25, Edward-Isaac Dovere, Battle for the Soul: Inside the Democrats' Campaigns to Defeat Trump, Penguin, →ISBN, page 152:
- One of these cars has 707 horsepower, performs amazingly well on a drag strip, and is popular among performance car bros. The other car is about to easily win a drag race.2022 September 14, Brian Culp, Electric Cars For Dummies, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 11:
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- He'd seen that false equivalency coming from AI bros time and time again, but hearing it from an AI itself was especially irritating.2024 May 23, ego_bot, There's Something Weird Going On: Ten Stories of Existentialist Science Fiction, ego_bot, →ISBN:
- Derived terms
78 terms
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