Meaning & use
bruin
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Meanings
nouncountableliterary
A bear, named this way in old stories and fables rather than in ordinary everyday speech.
Grammar: Countable; plural bruins. Reserve it for storytelling, poems, and humorous writing, not factual reports.
Patterns
- Bruin the bear
- old Bruin
- a fable about Bruin
In the old tale, Bruin the bear tricks the wolf out of his dinner.
The children listened as their grandmother described how Bruin guarded the forest.
nouncountablesport
A name for a bear used as the name or symbol of a sports team.
Grammar: Mostly appears capitalized in team names with the: the Bruins.
Patterns
- the Bruins
- the team mascot Bruin
The Boston Bruins have won the championship several times.
The college changed its mascot to a cartoon bruin in a brown jersey.
Word forms
| plural | bruins |
|---|
Common combinations
- Bruin the bear
- In the fable, Bruin the bear outwits the sly fox.
- old Bruin
- Old Bruin padded out of the forest in the bedtime story.
- the Bruins
- Thousands of fans turned out to watch the Bruins play.
Synonyms and how they differ
- bear
- Bear is the ordinary, neutral word for the animal; use bruin only for literary flavor or as a team name.
Word family
- brown adjective
- From the same old root: Dutch 'bruin' means brown, the color of the bear in the stories.
Practice
In which text would the word 'bruin' fit most naturally?
Choose one answer.
Bruin is a literary story-name for a bear, so it suits a fable. A repair manual, shopping list, or medical report would all use the plain word bear.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “bruin”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.