bric-a-brac

See also: bricabrac and bric-à-brac

English

WOTD – 15 November 2022

Etymology

A bric-a-brac (sense 1) shop in Woorim, Queensland, Australia.

Bric-a-brac (sense 1) on sale in a flea market in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, U.K.

Borrowed from French bric-à-brac (“miscellaneous items of little value”), apparently from à bricq et à bracq (“at random; haphazardly”); bricq and bracq are expressive onomatopoeias of obscure origin.[1]

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈbɹɪkəbɹæk/
Audio (Southern England) (file)
(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈbɹɪkəˌbɹæk/

Noun

bric-a-brac (usually uncountable, plural bric-a-bracs) (also attributively)

Small ornaments and other miscellaneous display items of little value.
Synonyms: brickety-brack, knick-knacks; see also Thesaurus:trinket
- 1840, M. A. Titmarsh [pseudonym; William Makepeace Thackeray], “Meditations at Versailles”, in The Paris Sketch Book, volume II, London: John Macrone, […], OCLC 2344307, page 267:
  The palace of Versailles has been turned into a bricabrac shop, of late years; and its time-honoured walls have been covered with many thousand yards of the worst pictures that eye ever looked on.
- 1861 January – 1862 August, W[illiam] M[akepeace] Thackeray, “In which Philip Shows His Mettle”, in The Adventures of Philip on His Way through the World; […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], published 1862, OCLC 1903243, page 299:
  No doubt her pleasure would have been at that moment to give him not only that gold which she had been saving up against rent-day, but the spoons, the furniture, and all the valuables of the house, including, perhaps, J. J.'s bricabrac, cabinets, china, and so forth.
- 1876, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter LXVII, in Daniel Deronda, volume IV, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, OCLC 775411, book VIII (Fruit and Seed), page 314:
  Haven't an affair in the world, […] except a quarrel with a bric-à-brac man.
- 1882–1883, Walt Whitman, “[Collect. Notes Left Over.] Emerson’s Books, (the Shadows of Them).”, in Specimen Days & Collect, Philadelphia, Pa.: Rees Welsh & Co., […], OCLC 35638985, page 320:
  Indeed, who wants the real animal or hunter? What would that do amid astral and bric-a-brac and tapestry, and ladies and gentlemen talking in subdued tones of [Robert] Browning and [Henry Wadsworth] Longfellow and art?
(by extension) Any collection containing a variety of miscellaneous items; a hodgepodge, an olio.
- 1871–1872, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter XLIII, in Middlemarch […], volume III, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, OCLC 948783829, book V, page 13:
  Yes: I think he is a good fellow: rather miscellaneous and bric-à-brac, but likable.

Alternative forms

bricabrac, bric-à-brac

Derived terms

bric-a-bracker (rare)
bric-a-brackery, bric-a-bracquerie
brickety-brack

Translations

small ornaments and other miscellaneous items of little value

Esperanto: aĵetoj
Finnish: krääsä (fi), rihkama (fi)
French: bric-à-brac (fr) m
German: Schnickschnack (de) m
Greek: μπιχλιμπίδι (el) n (bichlimpídi)
Hungarian: csecsebecse (hu)
Italian: bric-a-brac m, cianfrusaglie f pl, ciarpame (it) m, paccottaglia f
Japanese: 瓦落多, 我楽多, 瓦落苦多, がらくた (ja), ガラクタ (garakuta)
Polish: bambetle (pl) m pl (informal), bibeloty m pl
Portuguese: bricabraque (pt) m, porcariada f, quinquilharia f
Swedish: tingeltangel (sv) n

any collection containing a variety of miscellaneous items — see hodgepodge,‎ olio

References

Compare “bric-a-brac, n. and adj.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2021; “bric-a-brac, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.