bracelet: [15] The Latin word for ‘bracelet’ was bracchiāle, a derivative of bracchium ‘arm’ – thus, ‘something worn on or round the arm’. This passed into Old French as bracel, which made a brief and unconvincing appearance in English in the early 16th century. It was the French diminutive form, bracelet, which caught on in English. Its colloquial use as a term for ‘handcuffs’ goes back to the early 19th century.
