I thought that the broom was that necessary instrument to clean the floor of a house, but after living a few months in Great Britain, an English colleague that I worked with explained to me that it exists a substantial difference between a broom and a brush. A broom is more commonly used to sweep the external floors (such as streets, garages, sidewalks etc.), while a brush is more used on internal and closed spaces (such as the floor of a house, pub or shop). Is that true?
Broom or brush (to clean the floor)?
- Thread starter vinx91ct
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As a BE speaker, I'm not entirely sure there's a substantial difference as far as cleaning the floor goes.
I tend to agree that I associate "broom" with outdoors: sweeping up leaves in the garden or snow off the path. And "brush" can also mean a small implement that you might use to groom your dog with.
Other than that, do you have a specific context in mind, please?
I tend to agree that I associate "broom" with outdoors: sweeping up leaves in the garden or snow off the path. And "brush" can also mean a small implement that you might use to groom your dog with.
Other than that, do you have a specific context in mind, please?
I don't know if you can draw such a clean distinction. For example, this article lists some items identified as brushes and some as brooms: 10 best garden brushes
To me, any brush on the end of a long stick is a broom, not a brush.
There's clearly overlap here. But brooms tend to be bigger and/or harder; brushes are smaller and/or softer.
At the two extremes, yard brooms have very stiff bristles and a long handle:
Dustpans are usually accompanied by small hand brushes:
At the two extremes, yard brooms have very stiff bristles and a long handle:
Dustpans are usually accompanied by small hand brushes:
Me too.
Long handle, indoor use: broom in my usage. I've noticed that Derby natives call this a brush. My usage mirrors that of my parents, who are (were) from Kent. "Sweep the floor" implies "broom" to me.
Long handle, outdoor use: also a broom in my usage.
The thing that goes with a dustpan: brush in my usage.
Long handle, outdoor use: also a broom in my usage.
The thing that goes with a dustpan: brush in my usage.
Agreed. That’s also how the words are used in my neck of the woods (London).
A broom has a long handle and is used for sweeping floors and similar surfaces, while a brush — of the general cleaning variety, as opposed to toothbrushes, hairbrushes, paintbrushes, etc. — has a very short one. Being used indoors or outdoors has nothing to do with which word you use.
I'm with the 'any brush on the end of a long stick is a broom' gang.I think, however, that we will all agree that this is definitely a broom:
Or a besom.
(From my U.S. perspective) When I was growing up in the U.S. this was a standard house broom. You could use it indoors or out but you'd probably have a separate one for each use. Now they've gone high tech and don't necessarily use natural materials. At their most basic, brooms are made for sweeping while standing up using two hands. The sweepings are usually collected in a dustpan (if indoors).
A brush either has no handle or a very short handle (and often very stiff bristles) and is made for scrubbing, generally with one hand, frequently on hands and knees, usually with water (and soap of some kind). You don't use a dustpan with a brush.

Having said that, there are dozens of different kinds of specialized brushes and brooms so categorizing them is probably not that easy and I'm sure there is significant overlap. There are hand brooms that look like shrunken full-sized brooms and there are brushes with long handles. When it comes to cleaning floors, though, brooms sweep and brushes scrub.
A brush either has no handle or a very short handle (and often very stiff bristles) and is made for scrubbing, generally with one hand, frequently on hands and knees, usually with water (and soap of some kind). You don't use a dustpan with a brush.

Having said that, there are dozens of different kinds of specialized brushes and brooms so categorizing them is probably not that easy and I'm sure there is significant overlap. There are hand brooms that look like shrunken full-sized brooms and there are brushes with long handles. When it comes to cleaning floors, though, brooms sweep and brushes scrub.
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That fits: I'm originally from Somerset
.Mamma mia!
I did not think that a simple brush could cause such a discussion. Effectively it makes sense. My English work partner is from Leeds.I wanted to say to this friend of mine to pass me the broom, and for broom I intended this => https://www.amazon.it/Vileda-Paletta-Con-La-Scopa/dp/B00IYZ6K5CDonnyB said:
Thus he answered that the broom is more similar to this => Vecchia scopa malvagi isolato su bianco. scopa della strega. Una scopa o più comunemente noto come le streghe scopa. , while the first one is a brush. Here it seems to understand that, after all is said and done, this my English friend was basically right.
For me, your first link shows a broom and the second one shows a (witch's) broomstick - but hardly anybody uses those for sweeping anymore.
Another type of broom is the long-handled one shown in post #12.
I have to stoop down to use a brush on the floor. I'm not sure that men are the best authorities when it comes to naming household cleaning equipment.
Another type of broom is the long-handled one shown in post #12.
I have to stoop down to use a brush on the floor. I'm not sure that men are the best authorities when it comes to naming household cleaning equipment.
Well, I do more with it than just name it.I have to stoop down to use a brush on the floor. I'm not sure that men are the best authorities when it comes to naming household cleaning equipment.
You're right. Vinx's friend's use of "brush" for this is probably regional rather than due to a lack of familiarity with the tool.Well, I do more with it than just name it.
Let's try to sum up! It is generally correct to define broom that tool needed for cleaning/sweeping a surface; nevertheless, there could be some people who call that same tool as a brush. This happens due to several linguistic alterations (or: regionalisms), specially in the United Kingdom, that produce a light change in its meaning.
Ditto, and as to linguistic sources - father Scottish, mother from London - and I don't recall either of them calling a broom a brush. They also have different verbs - a broom sweeps and a brush brushes.
Good point.
I think I'd simply say there is regional variation in the terms used.
But yes, you're essentially right
I agree that a brush at the end of a long stick is usually a broom, but if the object in question has a long handle but comes with, and is used with pan, I’d might call it a brush.
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First of all, there are different types of brushes for different purposes: toothbrush, hair brush, eyebrow brush, hand & nail brush, clothes brush, shoe (polish) brush, paint brush, dish brush, bottle cleaning brush, toilet brush, floor cleaning brush, etc.
In regard to floor cleaning brush:
When it has a long handle and soft britles (to sweep dirt away), it may be called a broom. In short, a broom is a brush with a long handle used for sweeping the floor.
Note before the invention of the modern floor cleaning brushes, people used brooms made of sticks, twigs or straw bound together or attached to a handle. These traditional brooms are still in use in some parts of India, Middle-East, Sounth-East Asia and Africa.
In regard to floor cleaning brush:
When it has a long handle and soft britles (to sweep dirt away), it may be called a broom. In short, a broom is a brush with a long handle used for sweeping the floor.
Note before the invention of the modern floor cleaning brushes, people used brooms made of sticks, twigs or straw bound together or attached to a handle. These traditional brooms are still in use in some parts of India, Middle-East, Sounth-East Asia and Africa.
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What is the definition of a brush?
Collins dictionary reads:
"A brush is an object which has a large number of bristles or hairs fixed to it. You use brushes for painting, for cleaning things, and for tidying your hair."
The tool of whch you showed a photo in your post does answer to the above definition of a brush. So it can be rightly named a (soft floor sweeping) brush. One example: floor Cleaning Brush With Long Handle
But of course, it can also be named a broom, as I wrote in my previous post.
Our company subscribes to "Broom, Brush and Mop", an industry publication mailed to manufacturers of these items. It would appear that brooms and mops are for the floor, and brushes are for other applications. But that statement is not absolute.
But note there are also floor brushes for scrubbing the floors. And where does Swiffer fall in?
Leona Helmsley famously required the housekeeping staff to scrub the floors on their hands and knees using brushes. She also (famously) said, "We don't pay taxes; little people pay taxes."
But note there are also floor brushes for scrubbing the floors. And where does Swiffer fall in?
Leona Helmsley famously required the housekeeping staff to scrub the floors on their hands and knees using brushes. She also (famously) said, "We don't pay taxes; little people pay taxes."
Floor brushes for scrubbing (with hard bristles that can used wet, with water or cleaning fluids) are also called "scrubbers."
Swiffer (brand name) floor cleaners with specially designed microfiber fabric are also called "sweepers". As far as I know, these are never called "brush" or "broom".
What would you call this?
The ones we had in the Navy were around a foot long; we called them "foxtails" and used them to sweep the deck on submarines.
That looks just like the brush you might find in the expression "dustpan and brush"
I would never call it a brush in American English and I don't know anybody who would, based on lifelong experience.
In case you overlooked my first post (#23), I invite you to read it again for complete understanding.
Let me recap:
A brush is a generic word for an object which has a large number of bristles or hairs fixed to it that you use for cleaning, painting or tidying things. There are many types of brushes depending on the usage. Without clarifying the context, if you would walk into a store and ask just for a "brush", the sales person will not guess exactly what type of brush you want. If you need a brush for your hair, you'd better ask for "hair brush", if you need a brush to clean a toilet, you'd better ask for "toilet brush", if you need a brush for washing the dishes, you'd better ask for "dish brush", if you need a brush for your nails, you'd better ask for "nail brush", if you need a brush for your eyebrows, you'd better ask for "eyebrow brush", if you need a soft brush with a long handle to sweep the floor, you'd better ask for "broom", etc.
Regarding the modern(*) floor sweeping brush with a long handle:
It is called a broom, yes, but you can't take away the fact that it is a brush with a long handle and that other English speakers call it so. Below just a few examples for your reference:
Soft Bristles Deluxe Floor Sweeping Brush | Konga Online Shopping
Long Handle Dustpan and Brush Set Floor Sweeping Brush Kitchen Bathroom Tidy Set - OMS Home Store
https://www.indiamart.com/proddetail/floor-brush-7364970312.html
Supply HQ Extended Handle Hard Bristle Floor Brush Toilet Toilet Cleaning Cement Floor Brush Floor Wall Tile Floor Brush-
(*)Note the original form of broom (still popular in non-western countries) is never called a brush:
History of brooms, who, where, when. Broom making tradition more than 40 years
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As a Brit, I would never call the brush part of a broom a brush either. (What I call a brush always has its own handle.) So I agree with your sweeping statement.
Yes, broomheads are usually available to buy separately whereas a brush has an integral handle.
I respect everyone's opinion. However, I must say that a personal opinion is irrelevant in this discussion because we are interested in a common language usage. If you can back up your personal opinion with some references, that'd be of great value for us learners of English. I did include in my previous posts some URLs of English websites, where it is apparent that the word "broom" is synomous with the word "floor sweeping brush". I am willing to add below URLs of some online English dictionaries. If you still think that your personal opinion prevails over the English dictionaries, then I don't know what to say.
WordReference.com:
broom - WordReference.com Dictionary of English
a tool for sweeping, made up of a brush on a long handle
Meriam-Webster Learner's Dictionary:
Broom - Definition for English-Language Learners from Merriam-Webster's Learner's Dictionary
a brush that has a long handle and that is used for sweeping floors
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English:
broom | meaning of broom in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English | LDOCE
a large brush with a long handle, used for sweeping floors
Cambridge English Dictionary:
broom
a brush with a long handle, used for cleaning the floor
Macmillan Dictionary:
https://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/broom
a brush with a long handle, used for sweeping dirt from floors
kids.wordsmyth.ne:
broom | Free On-Line English Dictionary | Thesaurus | Children's, Intermediate Dictionary | Wordsmyth
a device for sweeping. A broom has a bundle of straw or a brush attached to the end of a long handle.
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But it would be pointless and unhelpful, wouldn't it, to define a broom as 'a tool for sweeping, made up of a broom head on a broom handle.'
A 'broom head' certainly resembles a generic brush, but it's a broom head, not a brush. If you were wanting to buy one, you'd look for a broom head, not a brush.
broom heads - Google Search
A 'broom head' certainly resembles a generic brush, but it's a broom head, not a brush. If you were wanting to buy one, you'd look for a broom head, not a brush.
broom heads - Google Search
Precisely. And dictionary definitions are not the same as everyday usage.
The whole point of the WordReference forums is to act as a supplement to the WR dictionaries.
The point of language is to communicate with another person. To communicate with that person, your words must go along with their perception of the meaning of words even though you may think it is their "opinion." You cannot tell us all that something is a "brush" when we know it as a "broom."
The dictionary definitions need to use a word for "broom head" that doesn't include "broom" so that the definition doesn't have a circular reference. That doesn't mean that anyone in real life thinks of a broom as a brush.
>>But it would be pointless and unhelpful, wouldn't it, to define a broom as 'a tool for sweeping, made up of a broom head on a broom handle.'
As I wrote several times, a broom is "a brush with a long handle used for sweeping the floor". I've never used the term "broom head" because it makes no sense to use the term you want to define in the definition.
>>A 'broom head' certainly resembles a generic brush, but it's a broom head, not a brush.
As I wrote previously (#23, #35), "brush" is a generic term and without clarifying the context, nobody would understand what ustensil it is. This is true also for hair brush, toilet brush, nail brush, shoe polish brush, etc. Therefore, I wrote that it'd better to say "broom" or "floor sweeping brush" instead oif just "brush".
The challenge for writers of dictionary definitions is you have to use words to define other words. In some cases, there is a convenient hypernym. For example, if you want to define a gooseberry or a polecat, you have handy superordinate terms like 'fruit' or 'animal' to get you started.
Unfortunately, there is no hypernym to help you explain what brushes and brooms are. So, when we want to define 'broom' for learners, the simplest way to describe the 'brush-like end bit with the bristles on' is 'brush'. This part of the broom is not a brush in itself - it's a broom head. But as Heypresto pointed out, a definition of 'broom' wouldn't be much use if it included the word 'broom', would it? Nobody actually calls the business end of a broom a brush, but referring to it as a 'brush' in a dictionary definition is a useful workaround, faute de mieux.
It's also worth bearing in mind that 'brush' is a much higher-frequency word than 'broom'. The compilers of learners' dictionaries are aware that the majority of elementary-level learners will be familiar with what a 'brush' is English: this makes it a helpful word to use when explaining the much lower-frequency term 'broom'. This doesn't mean that anyone actually uses the word 'brush' in this way in the real world.
Unfortunately, there is no hypernym to help you explain what brushes and brooms are. So, when we want to define 'broom' for learners, the simplest way to describe the 'brush-like end bit with the bristles on' is 'brush'. This part of the broom is not a brush in itself - it's a broom head. But as Heypresto pointed out, a definition of 'broom' wouldn't be much use if it included the word 'broom', would it? Nobody actually calls the business end of a broom a brush, but referring to it as a 'brush' in a dictionary definition is a useful workaround, faute de mieux.
It's also worth bearing in mind that 'brush' is a much higher-frequency word than 'broom'. The compilers of learners' dictionaries are aware that the majority of elementary-level learners will be familiar with what a 'brush' is English: this makes it a helpful word to use when explaining the much lower-frequency term 'broom'. This doesn't mean that anyone actually uses the word 'brush' in this way in the real world.
In the absence of a National Language Regulator (such as The Académie Française), that's all we have
I looked at the four websites in #35.
Konga is a Nigerian site
Indiamart is an Indian site
Supply HQ is a Chinese site
English is the official language of Nigeria, and English is one of the official languages of India. So I deduce that in Nigerian and Indian English, 'floor brush' equals 'broom' in AmE or BrE.
As for the Chinese site, I suspect that the person who wrote the text for that broom-like object used 'brush' because it's a more all-encompassing term than 'broom.' Also, the English on that site is far from native-like.
OMS is a site in the UK, but I think the use of 'brush' here follows the exception that You little ripper! noted in post 22. The name of the product is 'Long Handle Dustpan and Brush Set' which is different from 'dustpan and long handle brush.' To me it means 'dustpan and brush where the brush, unusually enough, has a long handle.'
Konga is a Nigerian site
Indiamart is an Indian site
Supply HQ is a Chinese site
English is the official language of Nigeria, and English is one of the official languages of India. So I deduce that in Nigerian and Indian English, 'floor brush' equals 'broom' in AmE or BrE.
As for the Chinese site, I suspect that the person who wrote the text for that broom-like object used 'brush' because it's a more all-encompassing term than 'broom.' Also, the English on that site is far from native-like.
OMS is a site in the UK, but I think the use of 'brush' here follows the exception that You little ripper! noted in post 22. The name of the product is 'Long Handle Dustpan and Brush Set' which is different from 'dustpan and long handle brush.' To me it means 'dustpan and brush where the brush, unusually enough, has a long handle.'
Never in a million years would I have associated brooms with brushes. They’re completely distinct things in my mind. Yes, “brush” is unspecific and there are many kinds of brushes, but a broom is not one of them.
If you asked me for the latter, I would be completely baffled and wouldn’t know what to give you. I certainly wouldn’t think you wanted a broom, though.
I'm not sure what sort of website could show examples of meaning that weren't personal opinion. The English dialect atlas I linked to above, and of course the OED, find out what to put in their authoritative guides by examining how a whole lot of people (across the country, or across time) use the words.
You have to understand that dictionaries and other reference works on language are intended to reflect real-world usage, what you are dismissing as “personal opinions.” If a dictionary entry clashes with the usage of many native speakers, then the thing to question is the dictionary, not what the natives are saying. Dictionaries aren’t perfect, and it’s incredibly naive to blindly accept their every pronouncement and/or to refuse to accept any aspect of usage that they don’t record. Finally, if you’re only interested in what reference works say, you’re in the wrong place. We’re not here to regurgitate what reference works say, but to discuss language through the lens of real-world usage in ways dictionaries don’t. There may be other forums out there where all people do is exchange dictionary entries.
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Amazon US website:
Fuller Brush Fiesta Red Kitchen Broom
https://www.amazon.com/Fuller-Brush-Fiesta-Kitchen-Complete/dp/B06ZYKGL5Q/ref=sr_1_6?keywords=floor+sweeping+brush&qid=1638215959&sr=8-6&th=1
Yocada Push Broom Brush
https://www.amazon.com/Yocada-Brist...sh&qid=1638215959&smid=A2S9CABUUPYHJW&sr=8-26
Fuller Brush Kitchen Broom Head
https://www.amazon.com/Fuller-Brush...ds=floor+sweeping+brush&qid=1638215959&sr=8-8
Fuller Brush Deep Reach Black Slender Broom Head with Dustpan Set
https://www.amazon.com/Fuller-Brush...s=floor+sweeping+brush&qid=1638215959&sr=8-19
Note the usage of both "brush" and "broom" terms in the same product description.
As I explained in one of my previous posts, people originally used brooms for cleaning floors.
Original forms of brooms are still used in Africa, India, Asia, Middle-East.
However, in western countries, original brooms have disapeared (they remain only in children books: Witch broom.)
Modern brooms are made of large brushes with long handle.
In other words, a modern broom is a brush with a long handle as clearly stated in many English dictionaries.
I understand that some of you in this forum a trying hard to deny the definition from the dictionaries.
Frankly, I don't know what else to tell you in order to convince you.
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There are no official English dictionaries. English dictionaries are made by people interested in words who like that sort of work. They define words as best they understand them using words that are as close as possible. Sometimes that's easy and sometimes it's hard. If they do a bad job, they risk going out of business. But we don't use words because they are in a dictionary. We use words because they are, by consensus, the words that are used in the area where the variety of English we speak is spoken. Dictionaries try to capture that usage as best they can. Dictionaries come from spoken and written language. Spoken and written language does not come from dictionaries by decree.
When I told you I would never use brush in reference to a broom, that's exactly what I meant. I don't recognize that word as a meaningful description of the thing I use to sweep my kitchen floor so I would never use it that way. In the decades I've been speaking English, I have never heard a fellow AE speaker use it that way. That's more important than any theoretical definition in a dictionary. Usage trumps dictionaries and I have heard the word broom used thousands of times for the tool that sweeps floors that are dry and I have never heard brush used in the context of floors except in contexts where water is involved. Those are scrub brushes.
If you lay out a variety of brushes and a broom in a line and ask someone who lives where I do to point to the brushes, no one I know will point to the broom. That's not what it is here, regardless of what a dictionary definition says.
When I told you I would never use brush in reference to a broom, that's exactly what I meant. I don't recognize that word as a meaningful description of the thing I use to sweep my kitchen floor so I would never use it that way. In the decades I've been speaking English, I have never heard a fellow AE speaker use it that way. That's more important than any theoretical definition in a dictionary. Usage trumps dictionaries and I have heard the word broom used thousands of times for the tool that sweeps floors that are dry and I have never heard brush used in the context of floors except in contexts where water is involved. Those are scrub brushes.
If you lay out a variety of brushes and a broom in a line and ask someone who lives where I do to point to the brushes, no one I know will point to the broom. That's not what it is here, regardless of what a dictionary definition says.
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We have, and we do, and I recommend you use it too. It's what they are called. These are not brushes, they are broom heads:
But we don't call it a brush. We call it a 'broom head.' And we don't call a broom, or a broom head, a 'floor sweeping brush.'
How about this?
Soft Bristle Plastic Floor Brush, 1 Pc
I gave several other similar URLs in my previous posts but you continue to ignore them.
You also ignore the statements from the dictionaries.
Soft Bristle Plastic Floor Brush, 1 Pc
I gave several other similar URLs in my previous posts but you continue to ignore them.
You also ignore the statements from the dictionaries.
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