Etymology: Apparently < Middle Dutch brycke (although this is first attested later: 1552 in a late copy of a 13th-cent. document; Dutch brik ), probably the same word as Dutch brik disc-shaped gaming piece (late 16th cent. in Kiliaan), and brik fragment, piece, something broken off (1615), all probably ultimately < the Germanic base of break v. Earlier currency of the Middle Dutch word is confirmed by the following borrowing into French, which probably also influenced the English word: Old French (northern) brike, Middle French, French brique building block made from baked clay, brick (late 13th cent.; early 13th cent. in the sense ‘round, flat gaming piece’, in an isolated attestation), kind of loaf (15th cent.), other material moulded into the shape of a brick (1611).Compare also Old French, Middle French briche small piece, bit (used to reinforce negation, in e.g. pas une briche not a bit), insignificant person (both second half of the 13th cent.), building block made from baked clay, brick (beginning of the 14th cent., rare), which is apparently a variant of the same word, showing the regular central Old French development of k in this position, although it is unclear whether the existence of this variant indicates an early date of borrowing, or a later analogical development within French. Potential earlier uses. Compare the following slightly earlier examples, although it is uncertain whether these should be interpreted as showing the Middle English word or an otherwise unattested Anglo-Norman form. Compare also the abbreviated Briktill' in quot. 1417-18, which probably shows a borrowing of the English compound brick tile into Latin:1405–6 in N. Lloyd Hist. Eng. Brickwork (1925) 12 Brike [at Hornchurch].1416–17 in C. L. Kingsford Stonor Lett. & Papers (1919) I. 30 [200, 000] de Brykes.1417–18 Bridge House Rental (London Metropolitan Archives: CLA/007/FN/02/001) f. 70^v Item..per manus Simonis Sergeaunt pro vj^Ml viij^C tegulis vocatis Brike venditis. Item..pro xxiiij^or M^l iiij^C & dimidio de Briktill' venditis. Semantic parallel. Compare Old English bryce roof tile (in an isolated use), specific use of bryce action of breaking, that which has been broken off (see bruche n.¹). This is unlikely to form part of the history of brick n.¹ directly (for both historical and phonological reasons), but it shows a sense development parallel to that assumed for the Dutch word. Historical note. An earlier English word was tile n.¹, which could denote materials for both roofing and building (compare roof tile n., wall-tile n. at wall n.¹ Compounds 2a, respectively). Bricks and tiles were known in Anglo-Saxon England mainly from residual Roman material, but were rarely used until the later Middle Ages. Roof tiles were manufactured in England by the 13th cent., but building bricks were apparently imported from the Low Countries at that time (compare Flanders tile n. at Flanders n. 2a) and only began to be manufactured locally in the 14th cent. Surnames of Dutch origin were still common among brickworkers in England in the 15th cent. In some early uses, brick n.¹ is used interchangeably with tile n.¹ (especially in combinations), as illustrated in quot. 1418 at sense A. 1a (which also cites a Dutch surname).

Etymology: < German regional (chiefly northern and Low German) Bricke, †Brick (16th cent.), variant of German regional (chiefly western and Low German) Pricke , †Prick (16th cent. in the Rhineland and in Middle Low German), corresponding to or borrowed < Middle Dutch pric (Dutch prik , †pricke ), of uncertain origin, perhaps ultimately the same word as Middle Low German prick and Dutch prik , both denoting long, thin, pointed objects (see prick n.), used for the fish on account of its long, thin body, and its piercing teeth.

Etymology: Short for brick-cold adj.

Etymology: < brick n.¹In sense 2 probably after bricking n. 2. With sense 3 compare earlier brickbat v.