bravado

Bravado comes from French bravade, meaning bragging or boasting, which came from Italian bravata, from the verb bravare, "to brag, to boast," itself from bravo.

The facts don't show a shift in meaning beyond its roots in boasting — the word has carried that sense of showy, vocal confidence from its earliest traceable form.

It shares its root, bravo, with bravura — both words descending from the same Italian family of boldness and show.