Bruit
/bruːˈiː/noun
A report or rumor, especially one that is widely circulated.
Did you know?Bruit entered English through Anglo-French from Old French, where it meant “noise” or “uproar,” and that noisy sense survives in the related verb *bruit* meaning “to spread a rumor.”
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*bhreu-
“to boil, bubble, or make a noisy movement”
Late Latin
Latin
brūtus
“noise, uproar”
Old French
OFr
bruit
“noise, din, report, rumor”
Middle English
ME
bruit
“noise; rumor, report”
Modern English
English
bruit
“a report or rumor; to spread as rumor”
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