Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a brother, esp. as a form of address to a friend (or actual sibling).

1981		J. Sullivan ‘Big Brother’ Only Fools and Horses [TV script] No, your feet won’t touch bruv!
1999		Guardian Guide 9–15 Oct. 54: Cynthia asking little bruv Maurice for a hug.
2000		J.J. Connolly Layer Cake 31: You ain’t been listening, brov.
2006		G. Malkani Londonstani (2007) 20: Yeh, bruv, [...] she’d probably have twins or triplets.
2008		A. Wheatle Dirty South 82: Dennis [...] the bruv you met at Red Eyes’ funeral.
2011		G. Knight Hood Rat 136: Keep it to yourself, bruv.
2016		Independent 5 Jan. 🌐 Many other [teenage] words belong to MLE—multi-ethnic or multicultural London English— [...] Among the most pervasive are bruv, mate, bare, fam, gwop, or peas (money), and chirpsin’, linkin’, and lipsin’—flirting, dating, and kissing respectively.
2016		Guardian G2 12 July 🌐 He couldn’t make out what Mire was shouting. Nor the man who shouted: ‘You ain’t no Muslim, bruv’.
2024		J. Meades Empty Wigs (t/s) 375: [A] couscous of bruvs to [...] instruct me in the degree of respect that the religion of peace’s manifestations must always be shown.

2. (UK black) an individual, irrespective of colour.

2016

A. Wheatle Crongton Knights 75: Venetia should step to the feds and report that this Sergio bruv napped her phone .