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brat

Pronunciation: /bɹæt/

The English word “brat” has 14 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. A human child.
  2. A child who is regarded as mischievous, unruly, spoiled, or selfish.
  3. The qualities possessed by a confident and assertive woman.
  4. A child (at any age) of an active member of the military or the diplomatic service.
  5. A submissive partner who is disobedient and unruly.
  6. An immature, spoiled and/or selfish person.
  7. A turbot or flatfish.
  8. A rough cloak or ragged garment.
  9. A coarse kind of apron for keeping the clothes clean; a bib.
  10. The young of an animal.
  11. Bratwurst.
  12. A thin bed of coal mixed with pyrites or carbonate of lime.

verb

  1. To act in a bratty manner as the submissive.

adjective

  1. Characteristic of a confident and assertive woman.

Etymology

Early Modern English (c. 1500) slang term meaning "beggar's child". Possibly from Scots bratchet (“bitch, hound”), in which case it would be a doublet of brachet. Another possibility is that it was originally a dialectal word, from northern and western England and the Midlands, for a "makeshift or ragged garment," from Old English bratt (“cloak”), which is from a Celtic source (Old Irish brat…

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