What does bricked mean?
Bricked is the past tense and past participle of the verb to brick, with meanings that span both construction and technology. In its traditional sense, it describes sealing or building with bricks: an unused doorway may be bricked up, a window bricked over, or a wall built entirely of brick. Since the early 2000s it has acquired a vivid informal meaning in computing, where a smartphone, games console, or router that has been rendered completely inoperable — usually by a failed software update or corrupted firmware — is said to have been bricked. The metaphor is blunt and memorable: the device is now as useful as a house brick. The word is neutral when describing masonry work, but the technological sense is distinctly slangy, appearing mostly in forums, reviews, and casual conversation rather than formal writing. Its dual life makes it a compact example of how an everyday material noun can generate a striking modern metaphor.
Past tense and past participle of brick: to seal, close, or line with bricks; to build using bricks.
"Workmen bricked up the disused cellar door decades ago."
Standard register; most often seen in the constructions 'bricked up' and 'bricked over'.
To render an electronic device permanently inoperable, especially through a failed software or firmware update.
"The interrupted flash bricked his router, forcing him to buy a replacement."
Informal slang; avoid in technical documentation.
Describing an electronic device that has been made permanently unusable.
"She took her bricked laptop to a repair shop on the faint hope of recovery."
Used attributively ('a bricked phone') in informal contexts.
In tech slang, your expensive phone isn't just broken — it's as useful as a literal brick, which is exactly where the term comes from.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of bricked
The verb derives from the noun brick, which entered Middle English from Old French briche (related to Dutch brik), referring originally to a fired block of clay used in building. The masonry senses — bricking up openings and constructing with brick — developed naturally alongside the noun in English. The computing sense arose independently in early-2000s slang, extending the material metaphor to dead electronics; its exact first attestation is uncertain, but it spread rapidly through enthusiast forums and technology media.
Related word forms
How bricked is actually used
The masonry senses are standard English. The computing sense is firmly informal slang, common in consumer-technology communities since the 2000s; it carries no formal register and is generally understood but avoided in technical documentation, which prefers terms like 'rendered inoperable' or 'unrecoverable'.
Easily confused with bricked
Clicked refers to pressing something or making a short sharp sound, while bricked means either walled with bricks or rendered unusable.