Word Origin & History
braid
c.1205, breidan "to dart, twist, pull," from O.E. bregdan "to move quickly" (class III strong verb, past tense brægd, past participle brogden), from P.Gmc. *bregthan "make sudden jerky movements from side to side" (cf. O.N. bregða "to brandish, turn about, braid;" O.S. bregdan "to weave;" Du. breien "to knit;" O.H.G. brettan "to draw, weave, braid"), from PIE base *bherek- "to gleam, flash." The broader word survives only in the narrow definition of "plaiting hair," which was in O.E. The noun meaning "anything plaited or entwined" (especially hair) is from 1530.