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brindle

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brindle¹

Where it comes from

Back-formation from brindled, a variant of brinded (“streaked, spotted”), apparently reanalyzed as brindle + -ed. Attested from the late seventeenth century.

noun brindles

  1. uncountable, usually A streaky colouration in animals.
  2. uncountable, usually An animal so coloured. I snatch at the puppy closest to me, the brindle, which is limp in my hand, and shove it down my shirt.

adjective more brindle · most brindle

  1. Having such a colouration; brindled. It is brindle. Stripes of black and brown ride its ribs like a zebra’s.

    Similar: tabby

verb brindles · brindling · brindled

  1. To form streaks of a different color. Sorely too as I laboured and toiled, the reward of toil would not come ; already my back began to curve, and my hair to brindle itself with gray, yet I saw no luck before me.

Brindle²

Where it comes from

From Old English burna (“stream, brook”) + hyll (“hill”). The surname could either derive from the village in England or be an Americanized spelling of South German Brindl and Bründl.

proper noun Brindles

  1. countable, uncountable A small village and civil parish in Chorley borough, Lancashire, England (OS grid ref SD5924).
  2. countable, uncountable A surname.

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MLA

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

APA

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

Chicago

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

BibTeX
@misc{brindle_2026,
  title = {brindle},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/brindle},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}