"ornamental ring or clasped chain for the wrist," mid-15c., from Old French bracelet (14c.), diminutive of bracel, from Latin bracchiale "armlet," from bracchium "an arm, a forearm," from Greek brakhion "an arm" (see brachio-).
1530s, "metal band or ring worn around the upper arm," diminutive of arm (n.1) with -let. Compare bracelet. The Latin word was armilla. As "a small intrusion of the sea into the land," also 1530s.
