bridge
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bridge¹
- /bɹɪd͡ʒ/
Rhymes with -ɪdʒ
Where it comes from
From Middle English brigge, from Old English brycġ (“bridge”), from Proto-West Germanic *bruggju, from Proto-Germanic *brugjō, *brugjǭ (“bridge”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerw-, *bʰrēw- (“wooden flooring, decking, bridge”).
Cognates
Cognate with Scots brig, brigg (“bridge”), Yola burge (“bridge”), North Frisian brag, Bröch (“bridge”), Saterland Frisian Brääch, Brääg (“bridge”), West Frisian brêge (“bridge”), Dutch brug (“bridge”), German Brücke (“bridge”), Limburgish brögk (“bridge”), Luxembourgish Bréck (“bridge”), Vilamovian bryk (“bridge”), Yiddish בריק (brik, “bridge”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål brygge (“jetty, pier, wharf”), Faroese, Icelandic bryggja (“pier”), Norwegian Nynorsk brygge, bryggje (“jetty, pier, wharf”), Swedish brygga (“bridge; pier”).
The verb is from Middle English briggen, from Old English brycġian (“to bridge, make a causeway, pave”), derived from the noun. Cognate with Dutch bruggen (“to bridge”), Middle Low German bruggen (“to bridge”), Old High German bruccōn (“to bridge”) (whence Modern German brücken).
The sense of a part of a stringed instrument is a semantic loan from German Steg, from Old High German steg.
noun bridges · brig · bridg · brigge
- A construction spanning a waterway, ravine, or valley from a height, allowing for the passage of vehicles, pedestrians, trains, etc. The rope bridge crosses the river.
- The upper bony ridge of the human nose. Rugby players often break the bridge of their noses.
- A prosthesis replacing one or several adjacent teeth. The dentist pulled out the decayed tooth and put in a bridge.
- The gap between the holes on a bowling ball
- An elevated platform above the upper deck of a mechanically propelled ship from which it is navigated and from which all activities on deck can be seen and controlled by the captain, etc; smaller ships have a wheelhouse, and sailing ships were controlled from a quarterdeck. The first officer is on the bridge.
- The piece, on string instruments, that supports the strings from the sounding board.
- A particular form of one hand placed on the table to support the cue when making a shot in cue sports.
- A cue modified with a convex arch-shaped notched head attached to the narrow end, used to support a player's (shooter's) cue for extended or tedious shots. Also called a spider.
- Anything supported at the ends and serving to keep some other thing from resting upon the object spanned, as in engraving, watchmaking, etc., or which forms a platform or staging over which something passes or is conveyed.
- A defensive position in which the wrestler is supported by his feet and head, belly-up, in order to prevent touch-down of the shoulders and eventually to dislodge an opponent who has established a position on top.
- A similar position in gymnastics.
- A connection, real or abstract. Yes, France is geographically situated in a key position so far as Western Europe is concerned. They are really the bridge between Germany, Spain and Italy. And it was necessary to have a NATO organization that was unified and France was a necessary member of that organization.
- A rudimentary procedure before definite solution ECMO is used as a bridge to surgery to stabilize the patient.
- A device which connects two or more computer buses, typically in a transparent manner. This chip is the bridge between the front-side bus and the I/O bus.
- A software component connecting two or more separate systems. The plugin also acts as a bridge with BuddyPress and adds things like the top admin bar, and so on.
- A system which connects two or more local area networks at layer 2 of OSI model. The LAN bridge uses a spanning tree algorithm.
- An intramolecular valence bond, atom or chain of atoms that connects two different parts of a molecule; the atoms so connected being bridgeheads.
- An unintended solder connection between two or more components or pins.
- A contrasting section within a song that prepares for the return of the original material section. The lyrics in the song's bridge inverted its meaning.
- An edge which, if removed, changes a connected graph to one that is not connected.
- A point in a line where a break in a word unit cannot occur.
- A statement, such as an offer, that signals a possibility of accord.
- A day falling between two public holidays and consequently designated as an additional holiday.
- In turtles, the connection between the plastron and the carapace.
- The part of a pair of glasses that connects the lenses.
- Any of several electrical devices that measure characteristics such as impedance and inductance by balancing different parts of a circuit
- A low wall or vertical partition in the fire chamber of a furnace, for deflecting flame, etc.; a bridge wall.
- The situation where a lone rider or small group of riders closes the space between them and the rider or group in front.
- A solid crust of undissolved salt in a water softener.
- An elongated chain of teammates, connected to the pack, for improved blocking potential.
- A form of cheating by which a card is cut by previously curving it by pressure of the hand. see for the card game of contract bridge.
verb bridges · bridging · bridged · brig · bridg
- To be or make a bridge over something. With enough cable, we can bridge this gorge.
- To span as if with a bridge. The two groups were able to bridge their differences.
- To transition from one piece or section of music to another without stopping. We need to bridge that jam into "The Eleven".
- To connect two or more computer buses, networks etc. with a bridge.
- To go to the bridge position.
- To employ the bridge tactic. (See Noun section.)
bridge²
- /bɹɪd͡ʒ/
Rhymes with -ɪdʒ
Where it comes from
From the earlier game biritch, probably from Russian бирю́ч (birjúč) or бири́ч (biríč); else from Turkish bir-üç (“one-three”).
noun brig · bridg · brigge
- Any of a certain family of trick-taking card games. Bidding is an essential element of the game of bridge.
-
A card game played with four players playing as two teams of two players each.
She played in a bridge tournament in Las Vegas last year.
Similar: contract bridge
Bridge³
Where it comes from
English surname, from the noun bridge.
proper noun
- An occupational surname for a bridgekeeper
- A habitational surname for someone living near a bridge or at a location called Bridge or Bridges
- A toponymic surname for someone from Bruges
- Alternative form of Bridgen
- Alternative form of Bridges
- A village and civil parish in Canterbury district, Kent, England (OS grid ref TR1854). Recorded as Brige in 1086 (DB), from Old English brycg.
- An unincorporated community in Coos County, Oregon, United States, named for a river bridge.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: nosepiece, span, bridgework, bridge circuit, bridge deck, bridge over, causeway, viaduct, drawbridge, boardwalk, underpass, footbridge, bridgehead, overpass, trestle, ramp
Translations
Every language
noun construction or natural feature that spans a divide
| Español | puente, bóveda |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 다리 dari, -교 -gyo, 교량 gyoryang |
| 日本語 | 橋 hashi, 橋梁 kyōryō |
| 中文 | 橋 /桥 qiáo, 橋樑 /桥梁 qiáoliáng |
| हिन्दी | सेतु setu, पुल pul |
| Kiswahili | daraja |
| Português | ponte |
| Français | pont |
| Deutsch | Brücke |
| Italiano | ponte |
| Ελληνικά | γέφυρα géfyra |
| Română | pod, punte |
| Русский | мост most |
| Tiếng Việt | cầu |
| العربية | جِسْر jisr, قَنْطَرَة qanṭara |
| עברית | גֶשֶׁר gésher |
noun (anatomy) bony ridge of the nose
| Español | puente |
|---|---|
| 中文 | 鼻樑 /鼻梁 bíliáng |
| Português | ponte |
| Français | pont |
| Deutsch | Nasenrücken |
| Italiano | setto nasale |
| Ελληνικά | ράχη ráchi, άκανθα ákantha |
| Română | pod nazal |
| Русский | перено́сица perenósica |
noun (dentistry) replacement for teeth
| Español | puente |
|---|---|
| 日本語 | 冠橋義歯 kankyo gishi |
| Português | ponte |
| Français | bridge, pont |
| Deutsch | Brücke, Zahnbrücke |
| Italiano | ponte |
| Ελληνικά | γέφυρα géfyra |
| Русский | мост most |
noun (nautical) platform above the upper deck
| Español | puente |
|---|---|
| 日本語 | 船橋 senkyo |
| 中文 | 船橋 /船桥 chuánqiáo |
| Kiswahili | daraja |
| Português | passadiço |
| Français | passerelle |
| Deutsch | Brücke |
| Italiano | ponte |
| Ελληνικά | γέφυρα géfyra |
| Русский | капита́нский мо́стик kapitánskij móstik, мо́стик móstik |
noun (music, lutherie) piece on string instruments
| Español | puente |
|---|---|
| 日本語 | 駒 koma |
| हिन्दी | जवारी javārī |
| Português | cavalete |
| Français | chevalet |
| Deutsch | Steg |
| Italiano | ponticello |
| Ελληνικά | καβαλάρης kavaláris |
| Русский | подста́вка podstávka, кобы́лка kobýlka |
noun (computing) device which connects computer buses
| Español | pasarela |
|---|---|
| Kiswahili | daraja |
| Français | pont |
| Ελληνικά | γέφυρα géfyra |
noun (chemistry) intermolecular valence bond
| Русский | мо́стик móstik |
|---|
noun (graph theory) edge
| Español | arista de corte, puente, istmo |
|---|---|
| Italiano | ponte |
| Tiếng Việt | cầu nối |
verb to make a bridge
| Español | pontear |
|---|---|
| Deutsch | überbrücken |
| Tiếng Việt | bắt ngang |
verb to span as if with a bridge
| Português | superar |
|---|---|
| Deutsch | überbrücken |
| Ελληνικά | γεφυρώνω gefyróno |
| Tiếng Việt | bắc cầu |
verb music: to transition from one piece or section to another
| Français | fondre |
|---|---|
| Deutsch | überwechseln |
Talk about this word "bridge." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/bridge. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. bridge. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/bridge "bridge." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/bridge.Cite this
@misc{bridge_2026,
title = {bridge},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/bridge},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
