• adj. 简短的，简洁的；短暂的，草率的
• n. 摘要，简报；概要，诉书
• vt. 简报，摘要；作…的提要
• n. (Brief)人名；(英)布里夫

来自词根brev, 短。引申义汇报，介绍情况。

brief

brief: [14] Brief comes via Old French bref from Latin brevis ‘short’, which is probably related to Greek brakhús ‘short’, from which English gets the combining form brachy-, as in brachycephalic. Latin produced the nominal derivative breve ‘letter’, later ‘summary’, which came into English in the 14th century in the sense ‘letter of authority’ (German has brief simply meaning ‘letter’).

The notion of an ‘abbreviation’ or ‘summary’ followed in the next century, and the modern legal sense ‘summary of the facts of a case’ developed in the 17th century. This formed the basis of the verbal sense ‘inform and instruct’, which is 19th-century. Briefs ‘underpants’ are 20th-century. The musical use of the noun breve began in the 15th century when, logically enough, it meant ‘short note’.

Modern usage, in which it denotes the longest note, comes from Italian breve. Other derivatives of brief include brevity [16], introduced into English via Anglo-Norman brevete; abbreviate [15], from late Latin abbreviāre (which is also the source, via Old French abregier, of abridge [14]); and breviary ‘book of church services’ [16], from Latin breviārium.
=> abbreviate, abridge, brevity

brief (adj.)

late 13c., from Latin brevis (adj.) "short, low, little, shallow," from PIE *mregh-wi-, from root *mregh-u- "short" (cognates: Greek brakhys "short," Old Church Slavonic bruzeja "shallow places, shoals," Gothic gamaurgjan "to shorten").

brief (n.)

from Latin breve (genitive brevis), noun derivative of adjective brevis (see brief (adj.)) which came to mean "letter, summary," specifically a letter of the pope (less ample and solemn than a bull), and thus came to mean "letter of authority," which yielded the modern, legal sense of "summary of the facts of a case" (1630s).

brief (v.)

"to give instructions or information to," 1866; originally "to instruct by a brief" (1862), from brief (n.). Related: Briefed; briefing.

1. A guide gives a brief talk on the history of the site.

导游简要地介绍了那个遗址的历史。

来自柯林斯例句

2. Now please be brief — my time is valuable.

请长话短说——我的时间宝贵。

来自柯林斯例句

3. This is a brief stop to take on passengers and water.

这是一次短暂停靠，上上客，加加水。

来自柯林斯例句

4. For a few brief minutes we forgot the anxiety and anguish.

短短几分钟我们就忘记了焦虑与苦恼。

来自柯林斯例句

5. She claims she had a brief fling with him 30 years ago.

她声称在30年前曾和他有过一段短暂的风流韵事。

来自柯林斯例句