break

Pronunciation

• IPA: /breɪk/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English breken, inherited from Old English brecan (“to divide violently into parts; to violate; to burst forth”),^[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *brekaną.^[3][5] Its cognates include Old Frisian breka, Old Saxon brekan, Dutch breken and German brechen,^[2][3][4] and Gothic has brikan.^[2][3][5] It is from Proto-Indo-European *bhreg- (“to break”),^[3][5][6][7] the source also of Latin frangere (“to break”).^[5][6][8] It is related to breach, brake and brick,^[3] and through Latin to fragile and fracture.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

To divide solid matter into pieces by force: Old English brecan, about 725 in Beowulf;^[2] Middle English breken appears before 1121, in the Peterborough Chronicle.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Old English the verb also meant “to violate a promise”, “to subdue, tame” and “to burst forth”,^[3] and it was used of bones.^[3] The intransitive sense “to come apart into fragments” is from the late 12th century.^[3] “To make a first disclosure”, as in break the news, is from the early 13th century,^[3] and break someone's heart from the late 14th.^[3] “To escape by breaking out” is from the late 14th century,^[3] and “to lessen, impair” from the late 15th.^[3] The old past tense brake began to be displaced by broke in the 15th century.^[5] “To destroy the completeness of”, as of a set, is from 1741,^[3][9] and of money, “to change into smaller units”, by 1882.^[3] Break ground is from the 1670s, and figuratively “to begin a plan” from 1709.^[3] The noun, the act of breaking, is from about 1300^[3] or before 1300.^[9] Break of day is from the 1580s^[3] or 1584.^[9] A sudden change of course or state is by 1725.^[3] A short interval between periods of work came later,^[3] as did a stroke of luck, a lucky break.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 725 – Old English brecan (Beowulf).^[2]
• late 12th century – to come apart.^[3]
• early 13th century – to disclose.^[3]
• c. 1300 – noun, an act of breaking.^[3]
• late 14th century – to escape, and break someone's heart.^[3]
• 15th century – past tense broke.^[5]
• 1584 – break of day.^[9]
• 1741 – to break a set.^[3]
• 1882 – to break a banknote.^[3]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To separate into pieces suddenly or violently; to smash.
2. To crack or fracture, as a bone.
3. To make or become unusable; to stop working.
4. To violate: break a promise.
5. To interrupt or end: break the silence.
6. To escape from or force a way through.
7. To tell: break the news.
8. To change money into smaller units.
9. To begin or burst forth: day broke.

Noun

1. The act of breaking, or the result, such as a crack or gap.
2. An interruption; a pause or rest from work.
3. A sudden change: a break with tradition.
4. (informal) A chance or piece of luck.
5. An escape; a dash.

Word family

• breakable
• breakableness
• breakably
• breakless

Related words

• breaker
• broke
• broken
• breach
• brake
• brick
• fragile
• fracture
• fraction

Usage notes

The American Heritage Dictionary compares break, the most general term, with crack, fracture, burst, split, splinter, shatter, shiver and smash.^[10] A separate break, a large wagonette or a frame for breaking in horses, is from 1831, perhaps from 16th-century brake, “cage”.^[9][11][5]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
8. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
11. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press