Browsed

/ˈbraʊzd/ verb

Definition

Past tense of browse; looked through something casually without a specific goal, or (of animals) nibbled on leaves and shoots.

Etymology

From 'browse' (from Old French 'brout', to nibble shoots) plus the regular past tense '-ed' suffix; maintaining the same root meaning across different time periods.

Kelly Says

The verb 'browse' started with animals eating leaves (medieval French), then shifted to humans looking at merchandise, and finally exploded with the internet—the same word now describes both a deer eating a tree and someone scrolling TikTok, showing how technology reuses old words for new behaviors.

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