Etymology: Old English bróc (masculine), corresponding in form to Middle Dutch broek (masculine), modern Dutch broek (neuter), Low German brôk marsh, bog, Old High German bruoh , Middle High German bruoch (neuter and masculine), marshy ground, morass, German bruch (masculine and neuter), moor, marsh, bog, fen. A similar range of meaning appears in Middle High German ouwe water, stream, watery land, island; and compare bache n. The ulterior derivation of the West Germanic *brôka- is uncertain; it has been doubtfully referred to brek-an to break v., as ‘that which breaks or bursts forth’; compare spring, ‘that which springs forth’.

Etymology: < brook v.²

Etymology: Old English brúcan (past tense bréac, brucon, participle gebrocen), a Common Germanic verb, but found in the other languages with weak conjugation: Old Frisian brûka, Old Saxon brûcan (Middle Dutch brûken, Dutch bruiken), Low German brûken, Old High German brûhhan (Middle High German brûchen, German brauchen), Gothic brukjan < Old Germanic stem *bruk- ‘to make use of, have the enjoyment of, enjoy’ < Aryan *bhrug-, whence also Latin frui ( < frugvi), fructus in same sense. The strong past tense and participle occur in Old English, but no certain instance of either is known in Middle English; 16th cent. Scotch has the weak brooked, brooket, bruikit. The phonetic history is unusual; the Old English brúcan, Middle English bruken, brouke, would normally have given modern browk; while the modern brook, and Scots bruik normally answer to a Middle English brōken, found already, as a by-form, in Layamon.

Etymology: Back-formation < brookit adj. (compare sense 2a at that entry).