Movatterモバイル変換

[0]ホーム

Jump to content

Briton

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

See also:briton

English

[edit]

EnglishWikipedia has an article on:

Briton

Wikipedia

Etymology

[edit]

FromOld FrenchBreton, fromLatinBrittō or itsCeltic equivalent (WelshBrython).Doublet ofBreton andBrython.

Pronunciation

[edit]

IPA^(key): /ˈbɹɪt.ən/
- Audio(UK): (file)
Rhymes:-ɪtən
Hyphenation:Brit‧on
Homophone:Britain

Noun

[edit]

Briton (pluralBritons)

Aninhabitant ofGreat Britain,particularly(historical) aCelt from thearea ofRomanBritain or(obsolete) aWelshman.
- 1905,Henrietta Elizabeth Marshall,Our Island Story,page59:
  At last the Saxons had killed nearly all theBritons, and the few who remained took refuge in the mountains, in that part of the country which we now call Wales, and in Cornwall.
- 1925 July –1926 May,A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, inThe Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia:Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:
  He writhed for twenty minutes under the flowery and eulogistic periods of the president, and rose himself in the state of confused indignation which theBriton feels when he is publicly approved.
The ancientBritons were particularly fond ofAnglesey, which theRomans knew asMona.
Acitizen of theUnited Kingdom or(historical, obsolete) itsoverseasempire.
- 1547, James Harrison,An Exhortacion to the Scottes..., G v b:
  ...when these hatefultermes ofScottes andEnglishemen,shal be abolisshed, and blottedoute for euer, and weshal al agre in theonely title and name ofBritons...
- 1740, “Rule, Britannia!”, James Thomson (lyrics), Thomas Arne (music):
  Rule, Britannia! Britannia rules the waves:
  Britons never, never, never will be slaves.
- 1760,King George III, quoted in George Rose's 1860Diaries and Correspondence..., Vol. II, p. 189:
  I glory in the name ofBriton.
- 1902, George Stoddart Whitmore,The Last Maori War in New Zealand..., page vi:
  Many of therank and file had no better conception of the proud and sensitiveMaori than was implied in the degrading 'nigger' theory, invariably applied by the unthinkingBriton to allcoloured races.
The victims included 3 Canadians, 2 Irishmen, and 1Briton.
The hiker was aBriton from New Zealand.

Usage notes

[edit]

Citizens ofBritain are usually known collectively astheBritish and informally asBrits.Englishman was traditionally used whenever a formal countable demonym was required, although this is increasingly deprecated as a general term except in exclusive reference to the people of England proper.Briton has been used for modern people since the personal union of England and Scotland underJames I, but some speakers continue to deprecate that sense and use it exclusively to refer to the ancient Celts in the region of Roman Britain, which covered modernEngland and Wales south ofCaledonia. When a speaker is accustomed to calling modern BritsBritons, the former Celtic peoples are usually distinguished as theancient Britons.

Synonyms

[edit]

(native of Great Britain, subject of the UK): theBritish(collective);Brit(colloquial);Britisher(now chiefly Canada, US, India);limey(jocular);pom,pommy, etc.(Australia, NZ, South African slang, sometimes offensive);seeEnglishman(proscribed, sometimes offensive)
(Celts of ancient Britain):ancient Briton
(native of Wales):SeeWelshman