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Origin and history of brew

brew(v.)

"produce (a beverage) by fermentation; prepare by mixing and boiling," Old English breowan (class II strong verb, past tense breaw, past participle browen), from Proto-Germanic *breuwan "to brew" (source also of Old Norse brugga, Old Frisian briuwa, Middle Dutch brouwen, Old High German briuwan, German brauen "to brew"), from PIE root *bhreu- "to boil, bubble, effervesce, burn." The etymological sense thus is "make (a drink) by boiling." The intransitive, figurative sense of "be in preparation" (in reference to trouble, etc.) is from c. 1300. Related: Brewed; brewing.

brew(n.)

"a brewed beverage, that which is brewed," c. 1500, from brew (v.).

also from c. 1500

Entries linking to brew

brewer(n.)

"one who brews, craftsman who brews and sells ale or beer," c. 1300 (as a surname from c. 1200), agent noun from brew (v.).

brewery(n.)

1650s (but perhaps from c. 1200 as a surname element); see brew (v.) + -ery. Old English had breawern in this sense (from aern "house;" see barn), and brewhouse was the more common word through 18c.

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Trends of brew

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

More to explore

broil
"to cook (meat) by direct action of heat," late 14c. (earlier "to burn," mid-14c.), from Old French bruller "to broil, roast" (Modern French brûler), earlier brusler "to burn" (11c.), which, with Italian bruciare, is of uncertain and much-disputed origin. Perhaps from Vulgar Lati
embroil
mingle," figuratively "to have sexual intercourse" (13c., Modern French brouiller), perhaps from breu, bro "stock, broth, brew...
Cinderella
The German form is Aschenbrödel, literally "scullion," from asche "ash" (see ash (n.1)) + brodeln "bubble up, to brew."...
brow
The general word for "eyebrow" in Middle English was brew, breowen (c. 1200), from Old English bræw (West Saxon), *brew (...
near
Near beer "low-alcoholic brew" is from 1908....
brass
Perhaps akin to French brasser "to brew," because it is an alloy....
beer
Greek brytos, used in reference to Thracian or Phrygian brews, was related to Old English breowan "brew;" Latin zythum is...
imbue
early 15c., "to keep wet; to soak, saturate;" also figuratively "to cause to absorb" (feelings, opinions, etc.), from Latin imbuere "moisten, wet, soak, saturate," figuratively "to fill; to taint," a word of uncertain origin, perhaps from the same root as imbrication. Compare als
ferment
late 14c. (intransitive), from Old French fermenter (13c.) and directly from Latin fermentare "to leaven, cause to rise or ferment," from fermentum "substance causing fermentation, leaven, drink made of fermented barley," perhaps contracted from *fervimentum, from root of fervere
soak
Middle English soken, from Old English socian (intransitive) "to soak, to lie in liquid," from Proto-Germanic *sukon (source also of West Flemish soken), possibly from PIE root *seue- (2) "to take liquid" (see sup (v.2)). The Old English word is a secondary form of sucan (past pa

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