breve

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See also: brève, brêve, and brevê

English

The letter A with breve (1).
Left: breve (2) in modern notation. Centre: breve in mensural notation used in some modern scores as well. Right: less common stylistic variant of the first form.

Etymology 1

From Middle English breve, variant of bref, from Old French brieve, breve (feminine form of brief, bref), from Latin brevis (“short”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /bɹiːv/, /bɹɛv/
  • Audio (Southern England)(file)
  • Audio (Southern England)(file)
  • Rhymes: -iːv, -ɛv

Noun

breve (plural breves)

  1. (orthography, printing) A semicircular diacritical mark (˘) placed above a vowel, commonly used to mark its quantity as short.
    Synonym: micron
    Antonym: macron
  2. (music) A double whole note; a note twice as long as a semibreve.
  3. (law) Any writ or precept under seal, issued out of any court.
  4. (zoology) A pitta, all of which have more or less short tails.
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations

See also

Etymology 2

From Italian breve.

Noun

breve (plural breves)

  1. An equal mix of espresso and half and half cream.

Further reading

Anagrams

Danish

Pronunciation

Noun

breve n pl

  1. indefinite plural of brev

Dutch

Dutch Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia nl

Etymology

From Latin brevis (“short”). This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

Pronunciation

Noun

breve f (plural breves, diminutive brevetje n)

  1. (orthography) breve

Anagrams

Galician

Etymology

From Latin brevis.

Adjective

breve m or f (plural breves)

  1. brief

Derived terms

Related terms

Further reading

Interlingua

Adjective

breve (comparative plus breve, superlative le plus breve)

  1. short

Italian

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin brevis (“short”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈbrɛ.ve/
  • Rhymes: -ɛve
  • Hyphenation: brè‧ve

Adjective

breve (plural brevi)

  1. brief, short
    Synonym: corto
    Antonym: lungo
    Il mese è breve. ― The month is short.
  2. (literary) narrow
    Synonyms: angusto, stretto
    Antonyms: ampio, largo
  3. (prosody) short
Derived terms

Adverb

breve

  1. (literary) briefly
    Synonym: brevemente

Noun

breve f (plural brevi)

  1. (prosody) short (short vowel or syllable)
  2. (typography) breve (the diacritical mark ˘)
  3. (music) breve (double whole note)
Derived terms

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Medieval Latin breve, from Latin brevis.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈbrɛ.ve/
  • Rhymes: -ɛve
  • Hyphenation: brè‧ve

Noun

breve m (plural brevi)

  1. (historical, Middle Ages) a document recording a business transaction
  2. (historical, Middle Ages) an oath sworn by magistrates of a medieval commune
  3. (historical, Middle Ages, by extension) the statute of a commune.
  4. (Christianity) an official papal document, less solemn than a bull
  5. (obsolete, by extension) a strip of paper with a short writing thereon
  6. (Christianity) a small bundle containing a saint's relic or written prayers
  7. (obsolete) talisman, amulet

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈbre.ve/
  • Rhymes: -eve
  • Hyphenation: bré‧ve

Noun

breve f pl

  1. plural of breva

Further reading

  • breve1 in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
  • breve2 in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Latin

Adjective

breve

  1. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular of brevis

Middle English

Adjective

breve

  1. Alternative form of bref

Noun

breve

  1. Alternative form of bref

Portuguese

Etymology

Probably a borrowing from Latin brevis (“short”) (compare Spanish breve, where *brieve would be expected if the term were inherited), from Proto-Indo-European *mréǵʰus.

Pronunciation

 
 

  • Hyphenation: bre‧ve

Adjective

breve m or f (plural breves)

  1. brief, short
    Synonym: curto
    Antonym: longo
  2. summarized
  3. minute (very small)

Derived terms

Related terms

Noun

breve f (plural breves)

  1. (music) a double whole note (US) or breve (UK)
  2. (phonetics) a syllable or vowel that is quickly pronounced

Noun

breve m (plural breves)

  1. a Papal brief

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin brevis (“short”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈbɾebe/
  • Audio (Colombia):(file)
  • Rhymes: -ebe
  • Syllabification: bre‧ve

Adjective

breve m or f (masculine and feminine plural breves, superlative brevísimo)

  1. brief, short
    Synonym: corto
    Antonym: largo

Derived terms

Further reading

Swedish

Preposition

breve

  1. (colloquial) Pronunciation spelling of bredvid.

Adverb

breve (not comparable)

  1. (colloquial) Pronunciation spelling of bredvid.
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