Well attestedIndirect, via a person or title
Brummajem
noun · first attested 19th century
The city's own pronunciation of its name became an English word for cheap fakes.
Birmingham; also a person from Birmingham.
52.4800°N -1.9025°W · Q2256
Record
- Relationship
- Indirect, via a person or title
- Confidence
- Well attestedThe place link is the standard scholarly account.
- Attested
- 19th century
- Part of speech
- noun
Explanations here are written for this atlas. Dictionary text is not copied; the sources are linked so the claim can be checked.
- Step 1
Birmingham
- In English
Brummajem
Brummajem is a spelling of Brummagem, the old local form of Birmingham, produced by swapping the first two consonants and wearing down the rest. Because seventeenth and eighteenth century Birmingham turned out counterfeit coin and cheap plated goods, brummagem became an adjective meaning showy and worthless. The same contraction gives the city its modern nicknames Brum and Brummie.
Also pinned to Birmingham
1 more from the same place
United Kingdom
All 108 entries 106 more words from United Kingdom
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