Why bracelet?

Necklaces go around the neck.
Anklets around the ankle.
What's with bracelets? Why aren't they called wristlets?


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Bigamy is having one wife to many. Monogamy is the same. - Oscar Wilde

My guess is that it's from the Latin, brachium(sp?) - meaning "arm".

That's my guess too: diminutive of bras arm, from Latin bracchium.

Aren't them arm protection thingies called 'bracers'? Well, then these are li'l tiny arm thingies, so they're bracelets. Good enoughr eason for me. Oh yeah.. and that latin thing. Actually, I'd say look it up in the dictionary and most good ones have a short bit on the origin of the word.

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"I guess it is possible for one person to make a difference, although most of the time they probably shouldn't."

From Dictionary of Word Origins:

bracelet (15) The Latin word for 'bracelet' was bracchiale, a derivative of bracchium 'arm' - thus, 'something worn on or round the arm.' This passed into Old French as bracel, which made a brief and unconvincing appearance in English in the early 16th century. It was the French diminutive form, bracelet, which caught on in English.

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