Etymologically
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breakup

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈbɹeɪk.ʌp/[1]

Etymology

It is a noun use of the phrasal verb break up,[2][3][4] formed from English break + up.[5][3] The verbal phrase, "to separate, dissolve", is recorded from the mid-15th century, first of ploughland and later of groups and assemblies.[3] It is also written break-up.[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The action of breaking something up; separation into parts, disintegration: 1697, in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.[2] Etymonline and Merriam-Webster date the noun to 1795 and 1794,[3][6] and Dictionary.com to 1785–95.[4]

Semantic evolution

From the general sense of breaking up, the noun was applied to particular endings: the end of term at a school or university, from 1840,[2][5] and the ending of a relationship or partnership, from 1849.[2] Etymonline notes that the verb break up was used of things, and of marriages and relationships, from the mid-18th century.[3] In Alaska and Canada the breakup is the melting and breaking of river ice in spring,[5][7][8] recorded in Alaska in 1868;[7] the New Partridge dates its use for the season itself to 1904.[8] The noun is also used of the dissolution of an empire, a political party or a company.[6][5]

Timeline

  • 1697 – separation into parts, disintegration.[2]
  • 1794 – an act or instance of breaking up (first date in Merriam-Webster).[6]
  • 1840 – the end of term at a school.[2]
  • 1849 – the ending of a relationship or partnership.[2]
  • 1868 – the spring melting of river ice, in Alaska.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The act of breaking up or dissolving; division or disintegration: the breakup of the empire.[6][9][2]
  2. The ending of a relationship, such as a marriage or friendship: They stayed friends after the breakup.[9][5][2]
  3. The breaking and melting of ice on rivers and harbours in spring, or the season when this happens, especially in Canada and Alaska.[6][5][8]
  4. A loss of control or composure.[9]
  5. (British) The end of a school term.[5][2]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ a b c Cassidy, Frederic G. & Joan Houston Hall (eds.) (1985–2002), Dictionary of American Regional English, vols I–IV, Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press
  8. ^ a b c Dalzell, Tom; Victor, Terry, eds. (2013), The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, 2nd ed., London: Routledge
  9. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin