A bracelet is an article of jewelry which is worn around the wrist

Wrist

In human anatomy, the wrist is variously defined as 1) the carpus or carpal bones, the complex of eight bones forming the proximal skeletal segment of the hand;...

. Bracelets can be manufactured

Manufacturing

Manufacturing is the use of machines, tools and labor to produce goods for use or sale. The term may refer to a range of human activity, from handicraft to high tech, but is most commonly applied to industrial production, in which raw materials are transformed into finished goods on a large scale...

 from metal

Metal

A metal , is an element, compound, or alloy that is a good conductor of both electricity and heat. Metals are usually malleable and shiny, that is they reflect most of incident light...

, leather

Leather

Leather is a durable and flexible material created via the tanning of putrescible animal rawhide and skin, primarily cattlehide. It can be produced through different manufacturing processes, ranging from cottage industry to heavy industry.-Forms:...

, cloth, plastic

Plastic

A plastic material is any of a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organic solids used in the manufacture of industrial products. Plastics are typically polymers of high molecular mass, and may contain other substances to improve performance and/or reduce production costs...

 or other materials and sometimes contain jewel

Gemstone

A gemstone or gem is a piece of mineral, which, in cut and polished form, is used to make jewelry or other adornments...

s, rock

Rock (geology)

In geology, rock or stone is a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids.The Earth's outer solid layer, the lithosphere, is made of rock. In general rocks are of three types, namely, igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic...

s, wood

Wood

Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...

, and/or shells. Bracelets are also used for medical and identification purposes, such as allergy bracelets and hospital

Hospital

A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....

 patient-identification tags.

Origin

Although the term armlet may be technically similar, it is taken to mean an item that sits on the upper shoulder: an arm ring

Arm ring

An arm ring, also known as an armlet or an armband, is a band of metal, usually a precious metal, worn as an ornament around the biceps of the upper arm...

. The origin of the term 'bracelet' is from the Greek 'brachile' meaning 'of the arm', via the Old French 'barcel'.

Cultural significance

The history of Egyptian

Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...

 bracelets is as old as 5000 BCE

Common Era

Common Era ,abbreviated as CE, is an alternative designation for the calendar era originally introduced by Dionysius Exiguus in the 6th century, traditionally identified with Anno Domini .Dates before the year 1 CE are indicated by the usage of BCE, short for Before the Common Era Common Era...

. Starting with materials like bones, stones and woods to serve religious and spiritual interests. From the National Geographic Society

National Geographic Society

The National Geographic Society , headquartered in Washington, D.C. in the United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational institutions in the world. Its interests include geography, archaeology and natural science, the promotion of environmental and historical...

, the Scarab Bracelet is one of the most recognized symbols of ancient Egypt. The scarab represented rebirth and regeneration. Carved scarabs were worn as jewelry and wrapped into the linen bandages of mummies. Myth told of the scarab god, Khepri

Khepri

This article is about the Egyptian god. For the type of robot, see Khepera mobile robot.In Egyptian mythology, Khepri is the name of a major god. Khepri is associated with the dung beetle , whose behavior of maintaining spherical balls of dung represents the forces which move the sun...

, pushing the sun across the sky.

In Bulgaria

Bulgaria

Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...

 there is a tradition called Martenitsa

Martenitsa

Martenitsa is a small piece of adornment, made of white and red yarn and worn from March 1 until around the end of March . The name of the holiday is Baba Marta. "Baba" is the Bulgarian word for "grandmother" and Mart is the Bulgarian word for the month of March...

, which sometimes involves tying a red and white string around the wrist to please Baba Marta

Baba Marta

Baba Marta is the name of a mythical figure who brings with her the end of the cold winter and the beginning of the spring. Her holiday of the same name is celebrated in Bulgaria on March 1 with the exchange and wearing of martenitsi.-Baba Marta:...

 in order for spring to come sooner.

In Greece a similar tradition, weaving a bracelet from red and white string on the first day of March and wearing it till the end of summer, is called "Martis" and is considered to help protect the wearer's skin from the strong Greek sun.

In some parts of India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, the number and type of bangles worn by a woman denotes her marital status.

Taken in the plural, bracelets is often used as slang for handcuffs

Handcuffs

Handcuffs are restraint devices designed to secure an individual's wrists close together. They comprise two parts, linked together by a chain, a hinge, or rigid bar. Each half has a rotating arm which engages with a ratchet that prevents it from being opened once closed around a person's wrist...

.

Sports bracelets

The use of colored silicone

Silicone

Silicones are inert, synthetic compounds with a variety of forms and uses. Typically heat-resistant and rubber-like, they are used in sealants, adhesives, lubricants, medical applications , cookware, and insulation....

 rubber as a material for producing sports bracelets was popularized by Nike

Nike, Inc.

Nike, Inc. is a major publicly traded sportswear and equipment supplier based in the United States. The company is headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon, which is part of the Portland metropolitan area...

 and Lance Armstrong

Lance Armstrong

Lance Edward Armstrong is an American former professional road racing cyclist who won the Tour de France a record seven consecutive times, after having survived testicular cancer. He is also the founder and chairman of the Lance Armstrong Foundation for cancer research and support...

 through the Yellow Livestrong wristband

Livestrong wristband

The LIVESTRONG Bracelet is a blue silicone gel bracelet launched in May 2004 as a fund-raising item for the Lance Armstrong Foundation, founded by cyclist and pnumonia survivor Lance Armstrong. The bracelet itself was developed by Nike and their ad agency Wieden+Kennedy.-Purpose:The bracelet is...

 starting in May 2003. Their success has led to the silicone bracelet becoming a high cost tool for various awareness, information, and charity campaigns. This can be likened to the use of awareness ribbon

Awareness ribbon

Awareness ribbons, due to their ubiquitous nature, have come to symbolize various concerns depending on the colours or the patterns used. For example, black ribbons may be used for mourning....

s for similar purposes. These bracelets are also known as "baller id bands", "wristband

Wristband

Wristbands are encircling strips worn on the wrist, made from a variety of materials depending on the purpose. The term can be used to refer to the bracelet-like band of a wristwatch, to the cuff or other part of a sleeve that covers the wrist, or to decorative or functional bands worn on the wrist...

s" or "balling bands".

The in-line thin diamond

Diamond

In mineralogy, diamond is an allotrope of carbon, where the carbon atoms are arranged in a variation of the face-centered cubic crystal structure called a diamond lattice. Diamond is less stable than graphite, but the conversion rate from diamond to graphite is negligible at ambient conditions...

 bracelet that features a symmetrical pattern of diamonds is called a tennis bracelet. In 1987 Chris Evert

Chris Evert

Christine Marie "Chris" Evert is a former world number 1 professional tennis player from the United States. She won 18 Grand Slam singles championships, including a record seven championships at the French Open and a record six championships at the U.S. Open. She was the year-ending World No...

, the former World No. 1 woman tennis

Tennis

Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

 player and the winner of 18 Grand Slam

Grand Slam (tennis)

The four Major tennis tournaments, also called the Slams, are the most important tennis events of the year in terms of world tour ranking points, tradition, prize-money awarded, strength and size of player field, and public attention. They are the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and...

 singles titles, was playing in the U.S. Open

U.S. Open (tennis)

The US Open, formally the United States Open Tennis Championships, is a hardcourt tennis tournament which is the modern iteration of one of the oldest tennis championships in the world, the U.S. National Championship, which for men's singles was first contested in 1881...

. She was wearing an elegant, light in-line diamond bracelet, made by jeweler-to-the-stars George Bedewi, which accidentally broke and the match was interrupted to allow Chris to recover her precious diamonds. The "tennis bracelet" incident sparked a new name for the item and sparked a huge jewelry trend. Tennis bracelets continued to be worn by various tennis stars like Serena Williams

Serena Williams

Serena Jameka Williams is an American professional tennis player and a former world no. 1. The Women's Tennis Association has ranked her world no. 1 in singles on five separate occasions. She became the world no. 1 for the first time on July 8, 2002 and regained this ranking for the fifth time on...

 and Gabriela Sabatini

Gabriela Sabatini

Gabriela Beatriz Sabatini is a former professional Argentine tennis player. She was one of the leading players on the women's circuit in the late-1980s and early-1990s...

.

Charm bracelet

A charm bracelet

Charm bracelet

A charm bracelet is an item of jewelry worn around the wrist. It carries personal "charms": decorative pendants or trinkets which signify important things in the wearer's life.-History:...

 is an item of jewelry worn around the wrist. It carries personal charms: decorative pendants or trinkets which are signifiers of important things in the wearer's life. In recent history, Italian charm bracelet

Italian charm bracelet

An Italian Charm bracelet is a series of individual modular links hooked together on a stretchy band to form a single Italian charm bracelet. A typical Italian charm bracelet comprises eighteen Italian charm links...

s have become trendy. While traditional charms dangle, Italian charms feature individual pieces soldered flat onto the surface of the link.

Bangles

Bracelets that are in solid form, usually some metal, are referred to as bangle

Bangle

Bangles or churi are traditional ornaments worn mostly by South Asian women in India and Bangladesh, especially Hindus. It is tradition that the bride will try to wear as many small glass bangles as possible at her wedding and the honeymoon will end when the last bangle breaks...

s or bangle bracelets

Bangle

Bangles or churi are traditional ornaments worn mostly by South Asian women in India and Bangladesh, especially Hindus. It is tradition that the bride will try to wear as many small glass bangles as possible at her wedding and the honeymoon will end when the last bangle breaks...

. They can be smooth, textured or set with stones. In India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, glass bangle

Bangle

Bangles or churi are traditional ornaments worn mostly by South Asian women in India and Bangladesh, especially Hindus. It is tradition that the bride will try to wear as many small glass bangles as possible at her wedding and the honeymoon will end when the last bangle breaks...

s are common. Made from ordinary glass that is about 1/4 - 1/8 inch in width, they are worn in groups so that arm movement causes them to make a gracious sound rather like the clinking of wind chimes. In India, it is also common that young children will wear thin gold bangles on their hands and ankles.

Functional bangle This is a new use for a very old thing. A spring closing type of bangle is used as both an adornment and a handy clip to hang things from. Marketed as a handbag hanger.

Slap bracelets

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, "slap bracelet

Slap bracelet

A slap bracelet is a bracelet consisting of layered, flexible stainless steel bistable spring bands sealed within a fabric cover. The bracelet can be straightened out, creating tension within the springy metal bands...

s" -- flat, felt

Felt

Felt is a non-woven cloth that is produced by matting, condensing and pressing woollen fibres. While some types of felt are very soft, some are tough enough to form construction materials. Felt can be of any colour, and made into any shape or size....

-covered metal strips that curved around one's wrist when gently hit against it—were a popular fad

FAD

In biochemistry, flavin adenine dinucleotide is a redox cofactor involved in several important reactions in metabolism. FAD can exist in two different redox states, which it converts between by accepting or donating electrons. The molecule consists of a riboflavin moiety bound to the phosphate...

. Often adorned with neon colors and vivid graphics, these bracelets could be found at inexpensive retailers. A rumor emerged that "slap bracelets" caused bleeding and puncture wounds and thus fell out of style.

Beaded bracelet

Bracelets made from beads are fairly common in Southwestern American Indian jewelry lore. They are often multi-colored beads .Single colour also appeal

Link bracelets

Bracelets made from connecting or linking various or similar components or jewelry findings. Link bracelets can be made of a variety of materials included metals and gemstones.

Karma bracelets

Bracelets made from wood beads and may contain various charms. Associated with bringing good luck and good karma

Karma

Karma in Indian religions is the concept of "action" or "deed", understood as that which causes the entire cycle of cause and effect originating in ancient India and treated in Hindu, Jain, Buddhist and Sikh philosophies....

 to those who choose to wear it.

In Latin America

In Latin America, Azabache Bracelets are worn to protect against the Mal de ojo, or evil eye

Evil eye

The evil eye is a look that is believed by many cultures to be able to cause injury or bad luck for the person at whom it is directed for reasons of envy or dislike...

. The evil eye is believed to result of excessive admiration or envious looks by others. Having newborn babies wear an azabache (a gold bracelet or necklace with a black or red coral charm in the form of a fist), is believed to protect them from the evil eye.