brain: [OE] Old English brægen came from a Germanic *bragnam. Its rather restricted distribution in modern Germanic languages (apart from English brain there is only Dutch and Frisian brein) suggests that in prehistoric times it may have been limited to the area of North Germany where the Low German dialects were spoken, but it may well have some connection with Greek brekhmós ‘forehead’.
Old English brægen "brain," from Proto-Germanic *bragnam (cognates: Middle Low German bregen, Old Frisian and Dutch brein), from PIE root *mregh-m(n)o- "skull, brain" (cognates: Greek brekhmos "front part of the skull, top of the head"). But Liberman writes that brain "has no established cognates outside West Germanic ..." and is not connected to the Greek word. More probably, he writes, its etymon is PIE *bhragno "something broken."
The custom of using the plural to refer to the substance (literal or figurative), as opposed to the organ, dates from 16c. Figurative sense of "intellectual power" is from late 14c.; meaning "a clever person" is first recorded 1914. Brain teaser is from 1923. Brain stem first recorded 1879, from German. Brain drain is attested from 1963. An Old English word for "head" was brægnloca, which might be translated as "brain locker." In Middle English, brainsick (Old English brægenseoc) meant "mad, addled."
双语例句
1. The horrors he experienced are imprinted, perhaps indelibly, in his brain.
他经历的恐怖事件在他脑海中刻下了深深的，或许是难以磨灭的印记。
来自柯林斯例句
2. She has a first-class brain and is a damned good writer.
她头脑相当灵光，是个非常棒的作家。
来自柯林斯例句
3. Hallucination is common in patients who have suffered damage to the brain.
脑部受损的病人常会产生幻觉。
来自柯林斯例句
4. He was witty, amusing and gifted with a sharp business brain.
他机智诙谐，具有敏锐的商业头脑。
来自柯林斯例句
5. What I said sometimes didn't register in her brain.
