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brick

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brick¹

  • /ˈbɹɪk/
  • /ˈbɹɘk/ New Zealand

Rhymes with -ɪk

Where it comes from

From Late Middle English brik, bryke, bricke, from Middle Low German and Middle Dutch bricke ("cracked or broken brick; tile-stone"; modern Dutch brik), ultimately related to Proto-West Germanic *brekan (“to break”), whence also Old French briche and French brique (“brick”). Compare also German Low German Brickje (“small board, tray”). Related to break.

The social media slang sense derives from memes about building up one's feed “brick by brick”, analogizing bricks with reels that inform the algorithm.

The sense of a helpful, reliable person comes from Lycurgus referring to the army as the walls of Sparta, every man a brick.

noun bricks

  1. countable A hardened rectangular block of mud, clay etc., used for building. This wall is made of bricks.
  2. uncountable Such hardened mud, clay, etc. considered collectively, as a building material. This house is made of brick.
  3. countable Something shaped like a brick. a plastic explosive brick
  4. countable, uncountable The colour brick red. The handyman considered the question and I knew she had a brick of ground beans in her bag but was considering whether the beds and a hot drink was worth a brick of coffee.
  5. countable, dated, slang, uncountable A helpful and reliable person. Thanks for helping me wash the car. You’re a brick.
  6. countable, slang, uncountable A shot which misses, particularly one which bounces directly out of the basket because of a too-flat trajectory, as if the ball were a heavier object. See also: put up a brick
  7. countable, informal, uncountable A power brick; an external power supply consisting of a small box with an integral male plug and an attached cord terminating in another plug.
  8. countable, figuratively, slang, uncountable An electronic device, especially a heavy box-shaped one, that has become non-functional or obsolete.
  9. UK, countable, slang, uncountable A projectile. I was on deck watching the firing, and looking at the direction in which our guns were pointing, it was obvious that it was not going to be Centurion who was going to receive our bricks.
  10. countable, uncountable A carton of 500 rimfire cartridges, which forms the approximate size and shape of a brick.
  11. countable, slang, uncountable A community card (usually the turn or the river) which does not improve a player's hand. The two of clubs was a complete brick on the river.
  12. countable, uncountable A card in a player's hand that is currently unplayable.
  13. countable, slang, uncountable A kilogram of cocaine. I can sell bricks, I don't need to rap / Buj so peng it makes the fiends collapse / Cook that coca into crack / I was selling Zs while you was in your bed
  14. countable, derogatory, offensive, uncountable A trans woman who does not pass. Was she like you—a brick, never passed, never gonna?

    Opposite: fish

  15. countable, slang, uncountable A reel or short video. I built up this feed brick by brick.
  16. countable, uncountable Any member of the species Agrochola circellaris of moths of Europe and Asia Minor.
  17. countable, uncountable A brick phone.

verb bricks · bricking · bricked

  1. transitive To build, line, or form with bricks. to be bricked alive (as a form of capital punishment)
  2. transitive To make into bricks. The plant, which is here described, for bricking fine ores and flue dust, was designed and the plans produced in the engineering department of the Selby smelter.
  3. slang, transitive To hit someone or something with a brick.
  4. slang, transitive To make (an electronic device) non-functional and usually beyond repair, as a result of software or configuration issues. My VCR was bricked during the lightning storm.
  5. intransitive, slang Of an electronic device, to become non-functional, especially in a way beyond repair, as a result of software or configuration issues. My phone bricked halfway through the videoconference.

    Opposite: unbrick

  6. intransitive, slang To blunder; to screw up.

adjective

  1. New York, colloquial, not comparable, of weather Extremely cold. And while the tropics are definitely the place to be when it's brick outside, rocking a snorkel on the beach only works when you're snorkeling.

    Similar: algid, Arctic, Baltic, boreal, brass monkeys, brumal, chill, chilled, chilly, clay-cold, cold, cold as a mackerel

Brick²

Rhymes with -ɪk

Where it comes from

* As an English surname, from the noun bridge. This aligns more closely with the pronunciation of its ancestors, Middle English brigge, Old English brycg.

* As a Polish surname, from Brych, which has the same pronunciation.

proper noun Bricks

  1. countable, uncountable A surname.
  2. countable, uncountable A township in Ocean County, New Jersey, United States, named after Joseph Brick.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: paved, mason, slab, masonry, tile, plaster, ingot, carton, stone, wall, block, rock, carpark, shipper, charger, container

Translations

Every language

noun color

Françaisrouge brique
Italianomattone

noun hardened block used for building

Españolladrillo, tabique, briqueta, rasilla, ladriello
한국어벽돌 byeokdol, 연와 yeonwa
日本語煉瓦 renga
中文磚 /砖 zhuān, 磚塊 /砖块 zhuānkuài, 磚頭 /砖头 zhuāntóu
हिन्दीईंट ī̃ṭ, ख़िश्त xiśt
Kiswahilitofali
Portuguêstijolo
Françaisbrique
DeutschBackstein, Ziegel
Italianomattone, laterizio, tegola
Ελληνικάτούβλο toúvlo, πλίνθος plínthos
Românăcărămidă
Русскийкирпи́ч kirpíč
Tiếng Việtgạch
العربيةطُوبَة ṭūba, لَبِنَة labina, قَرْمِيد qarmīd, طَابُوق ṭābūq, آجُرّ ʔājurr, آجُرَّة ʔājurra
עבריתלְבֵנָה l'véna

noun a building material

Españolladrillo, ladriello
日本語煉瓦 renga
中文磚 /砖 zhuān, 磚塊 /砖块 zhuānkuài, 磚頭 /砖头 zhuāntóu
Portuguêstijolo
Françaisbrique
DeutschZiegel
Ελληνικάτούβλο toúvlo
Românăcărămidă
Русскийкирпи́ч kirpíč
Tiếng Việtgạch

noun term for a helpful, reliable person

中文好心腸的 /好心肠的 hǎo xīn cháng de
Portuguêsmão
Françaissoutien
Русскиймолото́к molotók

noun an external power supply

Deutschexternes Netzteil

noun a heavy electronic device that has become obsolete

日本語文鎮 bunchin
中文磚 /砖 zhuān

verb electronics: to render non-functional

日本語文鎮化する bunchinka suru
中文使……變磚 /使……变砖
Françaisbriquer, bricker
Deutschbricken
Italianosuch as sfasciare, scassare, rompere, sminchiare, distruggere, ...
Русскийокирпи́чить okirpíčitʹ

verb build with bricks

Italianomurare
Ελληνικάπλινθοδομώ plinthodomó

adj made of brick(s)

Portuguêsde tijolo
Françaisen brique
Русскийкирпи́чный kirpíčnyj

Talk about this word

Cite this
MLA

"brick." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/brick. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

brick. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/brick

Chicago

"brick." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/brick.

BibTeX
@misc{brick_2026,
  title = {brick},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/brick},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}