bring

See also: bRing

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɹɪŋ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪŋ

Etymology 1

From Middle English bryngen, from Old English bringan, from Proto-West Germanic *bringan, from Proto-Germanic *bringaną (“to bring”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrenk-, possibly based on *bʰer-.

Compare Scots bring, West Frisian bringe, Low German brengen, Dutch brengen, Afrikaans bring, German bringen; also Welsh hebrwng (“to bring, lead”), Tocharian B pränk- (“to take away; restrain oneself, hold back”), Latvian brankti (“lying close”), Lithuanian branktas (“whiffletree”).

Verb

bring (third-person singular simple present brings, present participle bringing, simple past brought, past participle brought or (rare, dialectal) broughten)

1. (transitive, ditransitive) To transport toward somebody/somewhere.

   Waiter, please bring me a single malt whiskey.

   • a1420, The British Museum Additional MS, 12,056, “Wounds complicated by the Dislocation of a Bone”, in Robert von Fleischhacker, editor, Lanfranc's "Science of cirurgie.", London: K. Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co, translation of original by Lanfranc of Milan, published 1894, →ISBN, page 63:

     Ne take noon hede to brynge togidere þe parties of þe boon þat is to-broken or dislocate, til viij. daies ben goon in þe wyntir, & v. in þe somer; for þanne it schal make quytture, and be sikir from swellynge; & þanne brynge togidere þe brynkis eiþer þe disiuncture after þe techynge þat schal be seid in þe chapitle of algebra.

   • 1892, Walter Besant, chapter II, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC:

     At twilight in the summer […] the mice come out. They […] eat the luncheon crumbs. Mr. Checkly, for instance, always brought his dinner in a paper parcel in his coat-tail pocket, and ate it when so disposed, sprinkling crumbs lavishly […] on the floor.

   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 5, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

     A waiter brought his aperitif, which was a small scotch and soda, and as he sipped it gratefully he sighed. ¶ ‘Civilized,’ he said to Mr. Campion. ‘Humanizing.’ […] ‘Cigars and summer days and women in big hats with swansdown face-powder, that's what it reminds me of.’

   • 2012 August 21, Ed Pilkington, “Death penalty on trial: should Reggie Clemons live or die?”, in The Guardian:

     Next month, Clemons will be brought before a court presided over by a "special master", who will review the case one last time.

2. (transitive, figuratively) To supply or contribute.

   The new company director brought a fresh perspective on sales and marketing.

   • 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     “ […] it is not fair of you to bring against mankind double weapons ! Dangerous enough you are as woman alone, without bringing to your aid those gifts of mind suited to problems which men have been accustomed to arrogate to themselves.”

3. (transitive) To occasion or bring about.

   The controversial TV broadcast brought a storm of complaints.

4. (transitive) To raise (a lawsuit, charges, etc.) against somebody.
   • 2013 August 10, “Can China clean up fast enough?”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848:

     It has jailed environmental activists and is planning to limit the power of judicial oversight by handing a state-approved body a monopoly over bringing environmental lawsuits.

5. To persuade; to induce; to draw; to lead; to guide.
   • 1689 (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], chapter 2, in An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Eliz[abeth] Holt, for Thomas Basset, […], →OCLC, book I, page 11:

     It seems so preposterous a thing […] that they do not easily bring themselves to it.

6. To produce in exchange; to sell for; to fetch.

   What does coal bring per ton?

7. (baseball) To pitch, often referring to a particularly hard thrown fastball.

   The closer Jones can really bring it.

Conjugation

Conjugation of bring

infinitive	(to) bring
	present tense	past tense
1st-person singular	bring	brought, brang1, bringed2
2nd-person singular	bring, bringest†	brought, brang1, bringed2, broughtest†
3rd-person singular	brings, bringeth†	brought, brang1, bringed2
plural	bring
subjunctive	bring	brought, brang1, bringed2
imperative	bring	—
participles	bringing	brought, brung1, broughten1, bringed2

^† Archaic or obsolete. ¹ Dialectal. ² Nonstandard.

• Past brang and past participle brung and broughten forms are sometimes used in some dialects, especially in informal speech.

Derived terms

(Terms derived from "bring"):

• April showers bring May flowers
• bring about
• bring a knife to a gunfight
• bring along
• bring a lump to someone's throat
• bring-and-braai
• bring-and-buy
• bring-and-buy sale
• bring an end to
• bring around
• bring away
• bring back
• bring centre
• bring coals to Newcastle
• bringdown
• bring down
• bring down a notch
• bring down a peg
• bring down on
• bring down the curtain
• bring down the hammer
• bring down the house
• bring down to size
• bringer
• bring forth
• bring forward
• bring forwards
• bring home
• bring home the bacon
• bring in
• bring-in
• bring into being
• bring into line
• bring into play
• bring it
• bring it on
• bring it weak
• bring low
• bring off
• bring on
• bring one's arse to an anchor
• bring oneself away
• bring oneself to
• bring one's own hide to market
• bring out
• bring out in a rash
• bring out of oneself
• bring over
• bring owls to Athens
• bring round
• bring sand to the beach
• bring someone to their knees
• bring suit
• bring the curtain down
• bring the house down
• bring the lumber
• bring the wood
• bring through
• bring to
• bring to a boil
• bring to a close
• bring to a head
• bring to an end
• bring to bear
• bring to bed
• bring to book
• bring together
• bring to ground
• bring to heel
• bring to justice
• bring to life
• bring to light
• bring to mind
• bring to naught
• bring to nought
• bring to one's knees
• bring to order
• bring to pass
• bring to terms
• bring to the hammer
• bring to the table
• bring under
• bring up
• bring up against
• bring upon
• bring up short
• bring up the rear
• bring up to
• bring with
• forebring
• forthbring
• fullbring
• inbring
• interbring
• outbring
• underbring
• upbring

Translations

to transport toward somebody/somewhere

• Afrikaans: bring (af)
• Albanian: sjell (sq)
• Amharic: አመጣ (ʾämäṭa), ጣለ (ṭalä)
• Arabic: أَحْضَرَ (ar) (ʔaḥḍara), جَاءَ بِـ (ar) (jāʔa bi-), أَتَى بِـ (ar) (ʔatā bi-), جَلَبَ (ar) (jalaba)

  Chadian Arabic: جاب (jāb)

  Egyptian Arabic: جاب (gāb)

  Moroccan Arabic: جاب (jāb)

• Aragonese: trayer
• Armenian: բերել (hy) (berel)
• Aromanian: aduc
• Assamese: আন (an)
• Asturian: trayer, llevar
• Aymara: apaña
• Azerbaijani: gətirmək (az)
• Bakhtiari: اوردن (aworden)
• Bashkir: please add this translation if you can
• Basque: ekarri
• Belarusian: (a thing, on foot) прыно́сіць impf (prynósicʹ), прыне́сці pf (prynjésci), (a person, on foot) прыво́дзіць impf (pryvódzicʹ), прыве́сці pf (pryvjésci), (a thing or person, by vehicle) прыво́зіць impf (pryvózicʹ), прыве́зці pf (pryvjézci)
• Bengali: আনা (bn) (ana)
• Bhojpuri: आनल (ānal)
• Breton: kas (br)
• Bulgarian: дона́сям (bg) impf (donásjam) (bring by carrying), дове́ждам (bg) impf (dovéždam) (accompanying)
• Burmese: ယူလာ (yula)
• Catalan: aportar (ca)
• Cherokee: ᎠᏲᎯᏍᏗ (ayohisdi)
• Chichewa: nyamula
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 帶來 / 带来 (zh) (dàilái) (bringer is coming), 帶去 / 带去 (zh) (dàiqu) (bringer is going)

• Corsican: purtà (co)
• Czech: (a thing, on foot) přinášet (cs) impf, přinést (cs) pf, (a person, on foot) přivádět impf, přivést (cs) pf, (a thing or person, by vehicle) přivážet impf, přivézt (cs) pf
• Dalmatian: portur
• Danish: bringe (da)
• Dhivehi: please add this translation if you can
• Dutch: brengen (nl)
• Egyptian: (jnj)
• Esperanto: alkonduki (eo), alporti (eo)
• Estonian: tooma (et)
• Ewe: please add this translation if you can
• Extremaduran: trel
• Finnish: tuoda (fi) (towards the speaker), viedä (fi) (away from the speaker)
• Franco-Provençal: amenar
• French: apporter (fr), amener (fr)
• Friulian: puartâ
• Galician: traer (gl), traguer, levar (gl), carregar, portar (gl)
• Georgian: მოტანა (moṭana)
• German: bringen (de), holen (de)
• Gothic: 𐌱𐍂𐌹𐌲𐌲𐌰𐌽 (briggan)
• Greek: φέρνω (el) (férno)

  Ancient: ἄγω (ágō), φέρω (phérō), ἐπάγω (epágō)

• Gujarati: લાવવું (lāvvũ), આણવું (āṇavũ)
• Haitian Creole: pote
• Hausa: kāwo
• Hawaiian: lawe mai, hō mai
• Hebrew: הֵבִיא (he) (heví)
• Hindi: लाना (hi) (lānā)
• Hungarian: hoz (hu)
• Icelandic: færa
• Ido: adportar (io), portar (io)
• Igbo: weta
• Indonesian: bawa (id), membawa (id)
• Ingrian: toovva
• Interlingua: apportar
• Irish: tabhair
• Istriot: portà
• Italian: portare (it)
• Japanese: 持って来る (もってくる, motte-kuru) (bringer is coming), 持って行く (もっていく, motte-iku) (bringer is going)
• Javanese: gawa
• Kannada: please add this translation if you can
• Kazakh: әкелу (äkelu)
• Khmer: យក...មក (yɔɔk ... mɔɔk), នាំ...មក (noam ... mɔɔk)
• Korean: 가져오다 (ko) (gajeooda), 갖다 주다 (gatda juda)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: anîn (ku), înan (ku)

• Kyrgyz: келүү (ky) (kelüü)
• Lao: ເອົາມາ (ʼao mā), ນຳ (nam)
• Latin: addō (la), addūcō (la), portō, afferō (la)
• Latvian: (bring by carrying on foot, or carried by e.g. wind or stream of water) nest (lv) impf, atnest pf, (bring into a location) ienest pf, (a thing by vehicle, or a person by accompanying them by any mode) vest impf, atvest pf, (bring into a location) ievest pf
• Lithuanian: atnešti
• Low German: bringen (nds)
• Luganda: leeta
• Lushootseed: ʔəƛ̕txʷ
• Luxembourgish: bréngen (lb)
• Macedonian: донесува impf (donesuva), донесе pf (donese) (bring by carrying), доведува impf (doveduva), доведе pf (dovede) (accompanying)
• Malay: bawa (ms)
• Malayalam: കൊണ്ടുവരിക (ml) (koṇṭuvarika)
• Maltese: ġab, wassal
• Maori: homai, mau, apatari
• Marathi: आणणे (āṇṇe)
• Middle English: bryngen
• Mirandese: please add this translation if you can
• Mongolian: авчрах (mn) (avčrax)
• Neapolitan: purtà
• Nepali: ल्याउनु (lyāunu)
• Ngazidja Comorian: urwawa
• Norman: emm'ner
• North Frisian:

  Föhr-Amrum, Helgoland and Sylt: bring

  Hallig: briange

  Mooring: bränge

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: bringe (no), ta med

  Nynorsk: bringe, ta med

• Occitan: aportar (oc), adúser
• Odia: please add this translation if you can
• Old English: bringan
• Old Frisian: bringa
• Old Galician-Portuguese: trager
• Old Javanese: wawa
• Old Saxon: bringan
• Oromo: fiduu
• Ossetian: ӕрхӕссын (ærxæssyn)
• Pashto: please add this translation if you can
• Persian: آوردن (fa) (âvardan)
• Plautdietsch: brinjen
• Polish: (a thing, on foot) przynosić (pl) impf, przynieść (pl) pf, (a person, on foot) przyprowadzać impf, przyprowadzić (pl) pf, (a thing or person, by vehicle) przywozić (pl) impf, przywieźć (pl) pf
• Portuguese: trazer (pt)
• Punjabi: please add this translation if you can
• Quechua: apamuy
• Romanian: aduce (ro)
• Romansch: purtar
• Russian: (a thing, on foot) приноси́ть (ru) impf (prinosítʹ), принести́ (ru) pf (prinestí), (a person, on foot) приводи́ть (ru) impf (privodítʹ), привести́ (ru) pf (privestí), (a thing or person, by vehicle) привози́ть (ru) impf (privozítʹ), привезти́ (ru) pf (priveztí)
• Sanskrit: आनयति (sa) (ānayati)
• Sardinian: poltare, portare, vature
• Scots: bring
• Scottish Gaelic: thoir
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: (intransitive) донети, (transitive) доносити, (transitive) носити, (intransitive) понети, (intransitive) довести, (transitive) доводити, (slang, German origin) дофурати

  Roman: (intransitive) donijeti (sh), (transitive) donositi (sh), (transitive) nositi (sh), (intransitive) ponijeti (sh), (intransitive) dovesti (sh), (transitive) dovoditi (sh), (slang, German origin) dofurati (sh)

• Sicilian: purtari (scn)
• Sindhi: please add this translation if you can
• Sinhalese: ගෙනෙනවා (genenawā)
• Slovak: (a thing, on foot) prinášať impf, priniesť pf, (a person, on foot) privádzať impf, priviesť pf, (a thing or person, by vehicle) privážať impf, priviezť pf
• Slovene: prinašati impf, prinesti (sl) pf
• Somali: keenid
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: (by vehicle, abstract) wózyś impf, (by vehicle, concrete) wjasć impf, póraś impf

  Upper Sorbian: (a thing, on foot) přinosyć impf, přinjesć pf, (a person, on foot) přiwodźić impf, přiwjesć pf, (a thing or person, by vehicle) přiwozyć impf, přiwjezć pf

• Spanish: traer (es) (bringer is coming), llevar (es) (bringer is going), transportar (es)
• Swahili: kuleta (sw), kuletea
• Swedish: ta med (sv), bringa (sv), medföra (sv), tillföra (sv)
• Sylheti: ꠀꠘꠣ (ana)
• Tagalog: dala
• Tajik: овардан (tg) (ovardan)
• Tamil: please add this translation if you can
• Telugu: తెచ్చు (te) (teccu), తీసుకొచ్చు (tīsukoccu)
• Thai: นำ (th) (nam), เอามา (ao maa)
• Tibetan: please add this translation if you can
• Tocharian B: ās-
• Tok Pisin: bringim
• Turkish: getirmek (tr)
• Turkmen: getirmek
• Ugaritic: 𐎊𐎁𐎍 (ybl)
• Ukrainian: (a thing, on foot) прино́сити impf (prynósyty), принести́ pf (prynestý), (a person, on foot) приво́дити impf (pryvódyty), привести́ pf (pryvestý), (a thing or person, by vehicle) приво́зити impf (pryvózyty), привезти́ pf (pryveztý)
• Urdu: لانا (lānā)
• Uyghur: please add this translation if you can
• Uzbek: olib kelmoq, opke (uz) (Toshkent)
• Venetan: portar (vec)
• Vietnamese: mang (vi)
• Volapük: blinön (vo)
• Walloon: apoirter (wa), abouter (wa), atcheryî (wa), amoenner (wa)
• Welsh: dod â
• West Frisian: bringe
• Wolof: indy
• Xhosa: letha
• Yiddish: ברענגען (brengen)
• Yoruba: mu
• Zazaki: arden, anayen, overden
• Zulu: letha

to persuade; to induce; to draw; to lead; to guide — see persuade,‎ induce,‎ draw,‎ lead,‎ guide

baseball: to pitch

• Finnish: syöttää (fi)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Basque: ^{(please verify)} ekarri
• Icelandic: (+ accusative case) ^{(please verify)} koma með (is), (bring to a person) ^{(please verify)} færa
• Ido: ^{(please verify)} portar (io), ^{(please verify)} adportar (io)
• Indonesian: ^{(please verify)} membawa
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: ^{(please verify)} anîn (ku), ^{(please verify)} înan (ku), ^{(please verify)} hênan (ku)

• Latin: ^{(please verify)} ferō (la)
• Sicilian: ^{(please verify)} purtari (scn), ^{(please verify)} carruzziari (scn)
• Slovene: ^{(please verify)} prinesti (sl)
• Tagalog: ^{(please verify)} dalhín
• Turkish: ^{(please verify)} getirmek (tr)
• Woiwurrung: ^{(please verify)} wan'da-gat

Etymology 2

Onomatopoeia.

Interjection

bring

1. The sound of a telephone ringing.
   • 2011, Angela Russell, “Keeping House”, in Thatcher’s Children: An Account of Growing Up and Surviving in the 1980s, [Tyneside]: Grimalhame Press, →ISBN, chapter 2 (Staying In), page 28:

     Having a telephone was a novelty; the cat certainly thought so as Charlie would yowl every time it rang, just in case the “bring bring” sound was not sufficient enough to bring to your attention that someone was attempting to contact you telephonically.

   • 2011, Cate Lord, chapter 7, in Lucky Girl, Fort Collins, Colo.: Entangled Publishing, →ISBN, page 76:

     A shrill bring bring sounded down the hall. The doorbell? Nope, the phone. I hesitated, drawn by the bath’s enticing promise. Bring bring. Let the phone ring.

   • 2011 February, Jim Carrington, “Ash”, in In the Bag, London: Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN, pages 83–84:

     I get up from the bed and walk to the wardrobe and all the while the phone keeps on ringing. It’s one of the basic ringtones that you get on every mobile, a bring-bring sound.

   • 2023, J. A. Bouma, chapter 9, in End of Days (Order of Thaddeus; 13), Grand Rapids, Mich.: EmmausWay Press, →ISBN:

     A gentle bring-bring sounded with interruption. A phone on a side table next to Victor Zarruq.

Afrikaans

Alternative forms

• breng (archaic)

Etymology

From Dutch bringen, a dialectal variant of standard brengen (“to bring”). Both forms were originally distinct, though related, verbs, but were early on conflated.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /brəŋ/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

bring (present bring, present participle bringende, past participle gebring)

1. (transitive) to bring; to deliver
2. (transitive) to take; to lead (to another place)

   Bring asseblief hierdie borde kombuis toe.

   Please, take these dishes to the kitchen.

Derived terms

• uitbring
• wegbring

Danish

Verb

bring

1. imperative of bringe

Garo

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

bring

1. jungle, forest

German

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

bring

1. imperative singular of bringen

Middle English

Verb

bring

1. Alternative form of bryngen

North Frisian

Alternative forms

• bränge (Mooring)

Etymology

From Old Frisian bringa, from Proto-West Germanic *bringan. Cognates include West Frisian bringe.

Pronunciation

• (Sylt) IPA^(key): [b̥rɪŋ]

Verb

bring (Föhr-Amrum, Sylt, Heligoland)

1. to bring

Conjugation

Conjugation of bring (Föhr-Amrum dialect)

infinitive I	bring
infinitive II	(tu) bringen
past participle	broocht
imperative singular	bring
imperative plural	bring’m
	present	past
1st singular	bring	broocht
2nd singular	brangst	broochst
3rd singular	brangt	broocht
plural	bring	broocht
	perfect	pluperfect
1st singular	haa broocht	hed broocht
2nd singular	heest broocht	hedst broocht
3rd singular	hee broocht	hed broocht
plural	haa broocht	hed broocht
	future (skel)	future (wel)
1st singular	skal bring	wal bring
2nd singular	skääl bring	wääl bring
3rd singular	skal bring	wal bring
plural	skel bring	wel bring

Conjugation of bring (Sylt dialect)

infinitive I	bring
infinitive II	(tö) bringen
past participle	braacht
imperative	bring
	present	past
1st singular	bring	braacht
2nd singular	bringst	braachst
3rd singular	bringt	braacht
plural / dual	bring	braacht
	perfect	pluperfect
1st singular	haa braacht	her braacht
2nd singular	heest braacht	herst braacht
3rd singular	heer braacht	her braacht
plural / dual	haa braacht	her braacht
	future (skel)	future (wel)
1st singular	skel bring	wel bring
2nd singular	sket bring	wet bring
3rd singular	skel bring	wel bring
plural / dual	skel bring	wel bring

Norwegian Bokmål

Verb

bring

1. imperative of bringe

Scots

Etymology

From Middle English bryngen, from Old English bringan.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /brɪŋ/

Verb

bring (third-person singular simple present brings, present participle bringin, simple past brocht, past participle brocht)

1. To bring.