Etymologically
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break

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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
  • 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