Brewis

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A dish made from bread softened and served in broth, gravy, or meat drippings
2. Bread steeped in liquid such as broth, sauce, or the juices from cooked meat
3. Moistened bread served in or accompanied by savory broth or the fat from roasted meat

Etymology: Brewis is a word for a soup or gruel of bread soaked in broth, often with meat or fish added, and its name comes from a French plural. In Old French, "broez" and "brouez" were plurals of "broet" or "brouet," meaning gruel, so the English word was originally a plural form that was later taken as a singular noun. The French word traces back to "breu," which came from a diminutive of a Vulgar Latin "brodum," itself borrowed from a Germanic root "brod" meaning sauce. That Germanic root is the same one that gave English "broth," so brewis and broth are distant cousins that took different routes into the language. Broth came directly from Old English, while brewis arrived by way of Anglo-Norman and Old French. The pairing shows how one ancient word for a liquid food split into two English words through separate paths.

Synonyms: broth, pottage, gruel