Bred
/brɛd/noun
Past tense and past participle of breed; to have produced or raised offspring.
Did you know?Bred comes from Old English *brēdan*, a word tied to raising, nourishing, and bringing forth young, not from any occult root—but it still sits in a deep family of words about growth and generation.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*bʰreH-
“To boil, bubble up, or be in a state of heat; the ancestral root behind ideas of swelling and rising”
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*braudijaną
“To nourish, foster, bring up”
Old English
English
brēdan
“To produce, foster, raise, or bring forth young”
Middle English
English
breden
“To breed, beget, or raise animals and children”
Modern English
English
bred
“Raised or produced by breeding”