different between bract vs brack

English

Etymology

From Latin bractea (“a thin plate of metal; gold leaf”).

Noun

bract (plural bracts)

1. (botany) A leaf or leaf-like structure from the axil out of which a stalk of a flower or an inflorescence arises.

Translations

English

Etymology 1

From Dutch brak.

Noun

brack (uncountable)

1. (obsolete) Salty or brackish water.
   • 1627: "The Moone-Calfe" by Michael Drayton

     The very earth to fill the hungry mawe;

     When they far'd best, they fed on Fearne and brack,

Etymology 2

Compare Dutch braak.

Noun

brack (plural bracks)

1. An opening caused by the parting of a solid body; a crack or breach.
   • c. 1624,, John Fletcher, A Wife for a Day, Act I, Scene 1,^[1]

     You may find time out in eternity,

     Deceit and violence in heavenly Justice,

     Life in the grave, and death among the blessed,

     Ere stain or brack in her sweet reputation.

2. A flaw in cloth.
   • 1677, Hannah Woolley, The Compleat Servant-Maid, London: T. Passinger, p. 164,^[2]

     […] You must take care that all the bracks and rents in the Linen be duly mended.

Etymology 3

Shortening.

Noun

brack (countable and uncountable, plural bracks)

1. Barmbrack.

Further reading

• brack in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Scots

Verb

brack (third-person singular present brackin, present participle brackit, past brackit, past participle brackit)

1. Doric form of brak (“to break”)