What does brussels mean?
Brussels is the capital of Belgium and the principal city of the Brussels-Capital Region, situated roughly in the geographic centre of the country. Officially bilingual in French and Dutch, it is home to well over a million people and serves as the seat of most institutions of the European Union, including the European Commission and the Council of the EU, which has earned it the informal title of 'the capital of Europe'. Beyond politics, the name carries cultural weight: it evokes Art Nouveau architecture, Grand-Place grandeur, beer, chocolate, and comic-strip heritage. In everyday English the word also appears in the compound 'brussels sprouts', naming the small cabbage-like vegetable first cultivated on a large scale near the city. Journalists frequently use 'Brussels' metonymically for EU administration itself.
nounThe capital city of Belgium and of the Brussels-Capital Region, located in the centre of the country.
- The capital city of Belgium and seat of many institutions of the European Union.
"She flew into Brussels for a week of meetings at the European Commission."
"NATO's new headquarters opened in Brussels in 2018."
"After the referendum, reporters from every major outlet crowded into Brussels to cover the negotiations."
As a place name, Brussels has no plural form; it does not take plural inflections.
"They visited Brussels twice last year."
Brussels gave its name to a vegetable so despised by some children that US President George H. W. Bush banned it from Air Force One — yet the city itself has been called the de facto capital of Europe.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of brussels
The name comes from the medieval Dutch form Broekzele, combining 'broek' (marsh or fen) and 'zele/zele' (dwelling), meaning something like 'settlement in the marsh'. The first element shares its Germanic origin with the English word 'brook'. The settlement grew around a fortress founded on the Senne river in the tenth century, and its modern French and English spellings reflect centuries of sound change.
Related word forms
How brussels is actually used
Always capitalised as a proper noun. In political journalism, 'Brussels' is often used metonymically to refer to the EU's administrative machinery, much as 'Washington' stands for the US government.
Easily confused with brussels
Although the vegetable is named after the city, it is written 'brussels sprouts' with an s on both words — never 'brussel sprouts'.