Word.ws English Dictionary

briquet

briquet noun: synonym of lighter in reference to any device used to light cigarettes. Also the alternative form of briquette in all its senses.

briquet: synonym of lighter in reference to any device used to light cigarettes
Image: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

briquet (plural briquets)

  1. (dated) Synonym of lighter in reference to any device used to light cigarettes.
    • Out of the corner of his eye he caught the flash of a man's "briquet" lighting a cigarette.1919 October, John Galsworthy, chapter I, in Saint’s Progress, London: William Heinemann, published December 1919, →OCLC, part II, 3 §, page 115
    Synonyms:
    lighter in reference to any device used to light cigarettes
  2. A small short sword or sabre of a particular European (especially French) style.
    • '[…]blade. I'd say an infantry sword. Briquet sabre, if I know as much as I think I do. Napoleonic.' Jenna's heart galloped. Stacks upon stacks of classics used the Napoleonic War as a backdrop. She'd been right. […]2016 October 1, Colby Marshall, Flash Point, Severn House Publishers Ltd, →ISBN
    • […]swords had the Emperor's profile inlaid in silver in the thumb piece. Some NCO's briquets had similar ornaments. The officers' blades were inscribed 'Garde impériale' and either 'Grenadiers à pied' or 'Chasseurs à pied'.2017 June 30, Henri Lachouque, Anne S. K. Brown, The Anatomy of Glory: Napoleon and His Guard, Pen and Sword, →ISBN

Also used as

briquet is also the alternative form of briquette in all its senses.

briquet is also the alternative form of briquette.

Synonyms of briquet

  • lighter in reference to any device used to light cigarettes

Forms of briquet

Noun
pluralbriquets
Verb
third-person singular presentbriquets
present participlebriquetting
past participlebriquetted
pastbriquetted

Origin of briquet

In most senses, a variant spelling of briquette. As a lighter, a borrowing of French briquet, from Middle French briquet (“piece, morsel”), from brique (“brick, block”) + -et (suffix forming masculine diminutives). The sword is so called due to its small size and perceived resemblance to a firelighter.

Questions about briquet

What does briquet mean?
Briquet means synonym of lighter in reference to any device used to light cigarettes.
What part of speech is briquet?
Briquet is a noun.
What is the plural of briquet?
The plural of briquet is briquets.

Words near briquet in the dictionary

  1. brionies
  2. Brionna
  3. Brions
  4. briony
  5. Brioverian
  6. briquet
  7. briquetage
  8. briquets
  9. briquette
  10. briquetted
  11. briquettes

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: briquet (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “briquet.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/briquet. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.