Source etymology 1
Original entry ↗To separate into two or more pieces, to fracture or crack, by a process that cannot easily be reversed for reassembly. · To crack or fracture (bone) under a physical strain. · To make the first shot; to scatter the balls from the initial neat arrangement. · To divide (something, often money) into smaller units.
An instance of breaking something into two or more pieces. · A physical space that opens up in something or between two things. · An interruption of continuity; departure from or rupture with something. · A rest or pause, usually from work.
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg- Proto-Indo-European *-eti Proto-Indo-European *bʰrégeti Proto-Germanic *brekaną Proto-West Germanic *brekan Old English brecan Middle English breken English break From Middle English breken, from Old English brecan (“to break”), from Proto-West Germanic *brekan, from Proto-Germanic *brekaną (“to break”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg- (“to break”). Doublet of bray. Cognates Cognates of Germanic origin include Scots brek (“to break”), West Frisian brekke (“to break”), Dutch breken (“to break”), Low German breken (“to break”), German brechen (“to break”), French broyer (“to crush, grind”), Gothic 𐌱𐍂𐌹𐌺𐌰𐌽 (brikan, “to break, destroy”), Norwegian brek (“desire, yearning”). Also cognate with Albanian brishtë (“fragile”), Latin frangō (“break, break up, shatter”, verb), whence English fracture and other terms – fragile, frail, fraction, and fragment. The modern pronunciation shows an irregular change of Early Modern English /ɛː/ to /eɪ/ in the standard language; contrast this with the development of other words such as speak and wreak.
Relationships mentioned by the source
These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.
- Inherited-form mentionbrekenenm
- Inherited-form mentionbrecanang
- Inherited-form mention*brekangmw-pro
- Inherited-form mention*brekanągem-pro
- Inherited-form mention*bʰreg-ine-pro
- Doublet mentionbrayen
- Cognate mentionbreksco
- Cognate mentionbrekkefy
- Cognate mentionbrekennl
- Cognate mentionbrekennds
- Cognate mentionbrechende
- Cognate mentionbroyerfr
- Cognate mention𐌱𐍂𐌹𐌺𐌰𐌽got · to break, destroy
- Cognate mentionbrekno
- Cognate mentionbrishtësq
- Cognate mentionfrangōla
- Cognate mentionfractureen
This page abbreviates 94 auxiliary source items. The etymology narrative is not shortened. Omission counts are available in the audit fields below; consult the original for complete auxiliary material.
Inspect preserved source fields
Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.
{
"templates": [
{
"name": "etymon",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": ":inh",
"3": "enm:breken",
"id": "separate",
"tree": "1"
},
"expansion": "Etymology tree\nProto-Indo-European *bʰreg-\nProto-Indo-European *-eti\nProto-Indo-European *bʰrégeti\nProto-Germanic *brekaną\nProto-West Germanic *brekan\nOld English brecan\nMiddle English breken\nEnglish break\n[Appendix:Glossary#inherited|Inherited]] from\", \"keyword\" : \"inherited\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"Proto-Germanic\", \"term\" : \"*brekaną\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"gem-pro\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"Inherited from\", \"keyword\" : \"inherited\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"Proto-West Germanic\", \"term\" : \"*brekan\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"gmw-pro\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"Inherited from\", \"keyword\" : \"inherited\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"Old English\", \"term\" : \"brecan\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"ang\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"Inherited from\", \"keyword\" : \"inherited\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"Middle English\", \"term\" : \"breken\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"enm\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"Inherited from\", \"keyword\" : \"inherited\" } ], \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang_name\" : \"English\", \"term\" : \"break\", \"lang\" : \"en\" }\" data-id=\"separate\" data-lang=\"en\" data-title=\"break\" id=\"English:_separate\">"
},
{
"name": "inh",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "enm",
"3": "breken"
},
"expansion": "Middle English breken"
},
{
"name": "inh",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "ang",
"3": "brecan",
"4": "",
"5": "to break"
},
"expansion": "Old English brecan (“to break”)"
},
{
"name": "inh",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "gmw-pro",
"3": "*brekan"
},
"expansion": "Proto-West Germanic *brekan"
},
{
"name": "inh",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "gem-pro",
"3": "*brekaną",
"4": "",
"5": "to break"
},
"expansion": "Proto-Germanic *brekaną (“to break”)"
},
{
"name": "inh",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "ine-pro",
"3": "*bʰreg-",
"4": "",
"5": "to break"
},
"expansion": "Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg- (“to break”)"
},
{
"name": "doublet",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "bray"
},
"expansion": "Doublet of bray"
},
{
"name": "col-top",
"args": {
"1": "2",
"2": "cog"
},
"expansion": "Cognates"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "sco",
"2": "brek",
"3": "",
"4": "to break"
},
"expansion": "Scots brek (“to break”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "fy",
"2": "brekke",
"3": "",
"4": "to break"
},
"expansion": "West Frisian brekke (“to break”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "nl",
"2": "breken",
"3": "",
"4": "to break"
},
"expansion": "Dutch breken (“to break”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "nds",
"2": "breken",
"3": "",
"4": "to break"
},
"expansion": "Low German breken (“to break”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "de",
"2": "brechen",
"3": "",
"4": "to break"
},
"expansion": "German brechen (“to break”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "fr",
"2": "broyer",
"3": "",
"4": "to crush, grind"
},
"expansion": "French broyer (“to crush, grind”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "got",
"2": "𐌱𐍂𐌹𐌺𐌰𐌽",
"t": "to break, destroy"
},
"expansion": "Gothic 𐌱𐍂𐌹𐌺𐌰𐌽 (brikan, “to break, destroy”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "no",
"2": "brek",
"3": "",
"4": "desire, yearning"
},
"expansion": "Norwegian brek (“desire, yearning”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "sq",
"2": "brishtë",
"3": "",
"4": "fragile"
},
"expansion": "Albanian brishtë (“fragile”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "la",
"2": "frangō",
"3": "",
"4": "break, break up, shatter",
"pos": "verb"
},
"expansion": "Latin frangō (“break, break up, shatter”, verb)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "fracture"
},
"expansion": "English fracture"
},
{
"name": "etymon",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": ":inh",
"3": "enm:breken",
"id": "separate",
"tree": "1"
},
"expansion": "Etymology tree\nProto-Indo-European *bʰreg-\nProto-Indo-European *-eti\nProto-Indo-European *bʰrégeti\nProto-Germanic *brekaną\nProto-West Germanic *brekan\nOld English brecan\nMiddle English breken\nEnglish break"
}
],
"links": [
[
"*bʰreg-",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/bʰreg-#Proto-Indo-European:_break"
],
[
"*-eti",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/-eti"
],
[
"*brekaną",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/brekaną"
],
[
"*brekan",
"Reconstruction:Proto-West Germanic/brekan"
],
[
"brecan",
"brecan#Old_English"
],
[
"breken",
"breken#Middle_English"
],
[
"breken",
"breken#Middle_English"
],
[
"brecan",
"brecan#Old_English"
],
[
"*brekan",
"Reconstruction:Proto-West Germanic/brekan"
],
[
"*brekaną",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/brekaną"
],
[
"*bʰreg-",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/bʰreg-"
],
[
"bray",
"bray#English"
],
[
"brek",
"brek#Scots"
],
[
"brekke",
"brekke#West_Frisian"
],
[
"breken",
"breken#Dutch"
],
[
"breken",
"breken#Low_German"
],
[
"brechen",
"brechen#German"
],
[
"broyer",
"broyer#French"
],
[
"𐌱𐍂𐌹𐌺𐌰𐌽",
"𐌱𐍂𐌹𐌺𐌰𐌽#Gothic"
],
[
"brek",
"brek#Norwegian"
],
[
"brishtë",
"brishtë#Albanian"
],
[
"frangō",
"frango#Latin"
],
[
"fracture",
"fracture#English"
],
[
"fragile",
"fragile#English"
],
[
"frail",
"frail#English"
],
[
"fraction",
"fraction#English"
],
[
"fragment",
"fragment#English"
],
[
"speak",
"speak#English"
],
[
"wreak",
"wreak#English"
]
],
"references": [],
"descendants": [],
"lexical": [
{
"pos": "verb",
"glosses": [
"To separate into two or more pieces, to fracture or crack, by a process that cannot easily be reversed for reassembly.",
"To crack or fracture (bone) under a physical strain.",
"To make the first shot; to scatter the balls from the initial neat arrangement.",
"To divide (something, often money) into smaller units."
],
"tags": [
"ergative",
"intransitive",
"transitive",
"figuratively"
],
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},
{
"pos": "noun",
"glosses": [
"An instance of breaking something into two or more pieces.",
"A physical space that opens up in something or between two things.",
"An interruption of continuity; departure from or rupture with something.",
"A rest or pause, usually from work."
],
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"lexicalSenses": 94,
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}