breeze
English · Thesaurus
AI In plain words
Writing a short explanation…
Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
breeze¹
- /bɹiːz/
Rhymes with -iːz
Where it comes from
From the earlier (nautical) term brise, brize (“breeze”), from Middle English brees (“wind”). Ultimate origin obscure.
Variously supposed to derive from a Germanic source like Saterland Frisian Briese (“breeze”), West Frisian brys (“a cool wind”), Dutch bries (“breeze”), early Dutch brysen (“to blow cool and fresh”), or from Spanish brisa (“northeast wind”).
The earliest attestations are in Middle English brees (1460), Catalan brisa, and Italian brezza (all in 15th century), with Spanish (1504) and Portuguese briza (16th century) following closely after. The aforementioned Dutch cognates and French brise, however, are attested later than the term in English. The only internal hypothesis for any of those languages is a modification of Old Occitan bisa (“strong wind”), which is not widely accepted.
Compare also Albanian breshër (“hail”).
noun breezes · brize · briess
- A light, gentle wind. The breeze rustled the papers on her desk.
- Any activity that is easy, not testing or difficult. After studying Latin, Spanish was a breeze.
- Wind blowing across a cricket match, whatever its strength.
- An excited or ruffled state of feeling; a flurry of excitement; a disturbance; a quarrel. The discovery produced a breeze.
- A brief workout for a racehorse.
Similar: cakewalk, cinch, doddle, piece of cake, walk in the park, walkover
verb breezes · breezing · breezed · brize · briess
- To move casually, in a carefree manner. Resting most of their first-choice players for Sunday's vital Euro 2024 qualifier against Croatia, Wales started with four debutants and breezed into an early lead thanks to headers by captain Ben Davies and Kieffer Moore.
- To blow gently. She's sitting opposite a window that's gently breezing into her face, wafting her hair into cover-girl perfection ...
- To take a horse on a light run in order to understand the running characteristics of the horse and to observe it while under motion.
- To swim near the surface of the water, causing ripples in the surface. The first was a school of medium-sized ( 10-pound average ) fish that breezed frequently but bit poorly.
breeze²
- /bɹiːz/
Rhymes with -iːz
Where it comes from
From Middle English brese, from Old English brēosa, variant of Old English brimsa (“gadfly”), from Proto-Germanic *bremusī (“gadfly”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerem- (“to make a noise, buzz, hum”). Cognate with Dutch brems (“horsefly, warblefly”), German Bremse (“gadfly, horsefly”), Danish bremse (“gadfly, horsefly”), Swedish broms (“gadfly, horsefly”). Related also to Middle English brimse (“gadfly”), French brize (“gadfly”), Old English bremman (“to rage, roar”), Latin fremō (“roar, snort, growl, grumble”). See also bream.
noun breezes · breese · brize
- A gadfly; a horsefly; a strong-bodied dipterous insect of the family Tabanidae.
verb breezes · breezing · breezed · breese · brize
- To buzz.
breeze³
- /bɹiːz/
Rhymes with -iːz
Where it comes from
Probably from French braise (“burning coals”).
noun breezes
- Ashes and residue of coal or charcoal, usually from a furnace. See Wikipedia article on Clinker.
Breeze⁴
Where it comes from
* As an English surname, spelling variant of Breese.
* As a Welsh surname, from ap Rhys (“son of Rhys”); see Reese.
proper noun Breezes
- A surname.
Thesaurus
noun
Similar: cakewalk, cinch, doddle, piece of cake, walk in the park, walkover
Translations
Every language
noun a light, gentle wind
| Español | brisa, vahaje, alisio |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 산들바람 sandeulbaram, 미풍 mipung |
| 日本語 | 微風 soyokaze |
| 中文 | 微風 /微风, 和風 /和风 héfēng, 清風 /清风 qīngfēng, 輕風 /轻风 qīngfēng |
| हिन्दी | समीर samīr |
| Português | brisa |
| Français | brise |
| Deutsch | Brise, Windchen |
| Italiano | brezza, ora |
| Ελληνικά | αεράκι aeráki |
| Română | adiere, boare, briză |
| Русский | бриз briz, ветеро́к veterók |
| العربية | نَسِيم nasīm, هَوَاء hawāʔ, نَسَمَة nasama |
noun activity that is easy
| Español | pan comido, breva, chanfa, papaya, papayo |
|---|---|
| Français | gâteau |
| Deutsch | Kinderspiel |
| Română | joacă de copii |
| Русский | пустя́к pustják, пустяки́ pustjakí |
| العربية | سَهْل sahl, بَسِيط basīṭ |
verb to move casually, in a carefree manner, but not slowly
| Deutsch | flitzen |
|---|
verb blow gently
| हिन्दी | समीर samīr |
|---|---|
| Deutsch | wehen |
| Italiano | spirare, sospirare |
| العربية | نَفَحَتِ الرِّيح nafaḥati r-rīḥ, نَفَخَتِ الرِّيحُ nafaḵati r-rīḥu |
Talk about this word "breeze." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/breeze. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. breeze. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/breeze "breeze." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/breeze.Cite this
@misc{breeze_2026,
title = {breeze},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/breeze},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
