Brahms (English)

Where does "Brahms" come from?

The English adjective 'Brahms', meaning drunk, developed as an abbreviation of the rhyming slang phrase 'Brahms and Liszt'[1]. That paired expression was coined to rhyme with the slang term 'pissed'[1]. Over time, colloquial usage shortened the phrase, leaving only the first composer's name to carry the meaning[1].

Full etymology tree

• Brahms (English), 'Pissed, drunk.'
  • clipping Brahms and Liszt (English), 'Pissed, drunk.'

Sources

1. Brahms (English) - Wiktionary

Updated September 2026

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Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris