What does brisant mean?
Brisant is a technical adjective used chiefly in the field of explosives to describe a substance's shattering power — that is, its ability to break apart or fragment the material it contacts. A highly brisant explosive such as RDX produces a sharp, violent shock wave suited to demolishing concrete and steel, whereas a lower-brisant material like gunpowder primarily burns and pushes rather than shatters. The word derives from the French verb briser, 'to break', and its noun form, brisance, denotes this breaking capacity as a measurable property. Beyond ballistics and demolition engineering, brisant appears rarely; it has a specialised heraldic sense describing a charge depicted as broken. Because of its narrow technical register, the word is best reserved for contexts genuinely concerned with explosive performance rather than borrowed loosely for figurative use.
(Of an explosive) having great shattering power; capable of producing a violent breaking or fragmentation effect upon detonation.
"The demolition team selected a more brisant compound for the bridge piers."
Primarily found in military, mining, and demolition literature.
(Heraldry, of a charge) represented as broken or severed.
"The shield displayed a spear brisant beneath the crest."
Brisant comes from a French verb meaning 'to break' — it's the word for explosives judged not by how loud they are, but by how thoroughly they shatter what they hit.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of brisant
Brisant comes from French, formed on the verb briser, 'to break or shatter'. Briser itself descends from a Vulgar Latin form *brisare, likely of Germanic origin, making the word a Romance-Germanic hybrid in ancestry. English borrowed brisant directly from French in the context of explosives science, alongside the related noun brisance, which was adopted into technical vocabulary in the late nineteenth century.
Related word forms
How brisant is actually used
Brisant is a technical term, encountered mainly in military ordnance, demolition engineering, and discussions of explosives; its heraldic sense is rare and specialised. It is not used figuratively in general prose.