Bras Basah means "wet rice" in Malay - beras means harvested rice with husk removed, and basah means wet. The road is said to be so named because in the early days, a small river known as Fresh Water Stream or Sungei Bras Basah used to exist here. The area was the gateway for boats that brought in tons of rice, and the rice may be laid on the river banks to dry, but the rice would often get wet at high tides. The area is now largely filled in, and the river Bras Basah is mostly covered up. In the earliest plan of Singapore, Lieutenant Philip Jackson's 1822 Plan of Singapore, Bras Basah Road is shown as two separate roads. This map names the section between North Bridge Road and Beach Road as Church Street due to the presence of a Missionary Society chapel that stood at the corner of North Bridge Road and Bras Basah Road, while the section between North Bridge Road and Selegie Hill is named Selegy Street. Note however that the Jackson Plan is a proposal on how the road may be arranged, and the actual arrangement of the road at that time was different as shown in an actual map of 1825. The road was also referred to as College Street in a lease granted by Thomas Stamford Raffles in 1823 for the Raffles Institution as it was the location of the Institution, but the name did not gain currency and was soon forgotten. In an 1826 lease, the road was called Cross Road. The road appears on G.D. Coleman's 1836 Map of Singapore as Brass Bassa Road, the spelling used until the late 19th century when it was changed to Bras Basah. In the old days, the local Chinese referred to the road by several names according to the buildings that may be found along the road. These included Lau kha-ku-keng khau in Hokkien and Kau ka-ku hau in Cantonese, a reference to an old gaol that was once located between Stamford Road and Bras Basah Road. The term kha ku means "fetters" in Hokkien, and the name in Cantonese is an adaptation of the Hokkien term. Another name, Ho-lan-se le-pai-tng pi meaning "beside the French church", is a reference to the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd belonging to the French mission here. Another location used was Tek kok seng nong or "the German pharmacy", referring to a German-own pharmacy named after the mythical ruler Shennong that once stood at a corner of the street. Other names included Hai ki ang-neo toa-oh pi or "beside the seaside English big school", referring to the Raffles Institution once sited here. In Mandarin, this is pronounced as Hai gan hong mao da xue bian, or simply as Da shu guan bian, meaning beside the big school. In Hakka, it may be called Thong kwong sen kei, meaning "Thong Kwong Sen Street" after a Hakka-owned tailoring establishment on the road.
