Mid 18th century: from French, literally 'something stitched', from brocher 'to stitch' (see broach¹).

• Although now associated particularly with holidays, brochure is a French word meaning ‘stitching’ or ‘stitched work’. The connection is that the first brochures were little booklets that were roughly stitched together rather than properly bound. The root, Latin brocchus or broccus ‘projecting [tooth] something that pierces’, connects brochure with broach (Middle English) ‘to pierce a cask’ and brooch (Middle English). This was originally a variant of broach and meant a skewer (as in brochette (Late Middle English)) and then an ornamental pin. Broccoli (late 17th century) is from the same source, which became brocco ‘sprout, shoot, projecting tooth’ in Italian, and then broccoli ‘little sprouts’.