A bruin is a brown bear, particularly in stories, fables, and sports team names. The word comes from old European folktales where the bear character was often called “Bruin,” similar to how foxes in stories are sometimes called “Reynard.”

You'll most often see this word as a nickname for bears used by sports teams, like the UCLA Bruins or the Boston Bruins hockey team. When a sports announcer says “the Bruins are on the attack,” they mean the team whose mascot is a bear.

The word has a friendly, storybook quality to it. Nobody says “I saw a bruin in the woods” when they mean an actual brown bear; they'd just say “a bear.” If you're writing a story about a wise old bear who helps forest animals, you might call him Bruin, giving him a name that feels both personal and traditional. It's the kind of word that makes a powerful animal seem a bit more approachable, which is probably why so many teams choose it for their mascot name.