wreck English · revision 10821

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1077|origins=xno wrec|origins=non *wrek}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /rek/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|xno|wrec|t=wreckage cast ashore]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) from a Scandinavian source: compare Old Norse rek, wreck, flotsam, from older *wrek, related to reka, to drive, push (see [[wreak]]).^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ In law, goods cast ashore by the sea after a shipwreck: 1077 in the OED, 1228 in Barnhart, the mid-12th century in Etymonline;^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) the right to what washed up on shore was at first a crown perquisite.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ A shipwreck, the destruction of a ship at sea, is first recorded in 1463,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) and a wrecked ship about 1290 in the OED, before 1500 in Barnhart.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988) The general sense, violent destruction of anything, is from the 1570s,^(Etymonline) and the remains of something ruined (''the wreck of a name'') from 1713, in Addison's Cato.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) A person broken in health or spirits is a wreck by 1795.^(Etymonline) Road and rail accidents are wrecks by 1912 in American English.^(Etymonline) The verb, to cast ashore, is from before 1400,^(Barnhart 1988) to destroy or ruin from 1510,^(Barnhart 1988) and to suffer shipwreck from the 1670s.^(Etymonline) ''Wreckage'' is from 1837, in Carlyle's French Revolution.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1077 – goods cast ashore (law).^(OED 1989)

+ * 1463 – a shipwreck.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1510 – to destroy.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1713 – the remains of a ruin.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1837 – wreckage.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1912 – a road or rail accident (US).^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The destruction of a ship at sea; a [[shipwreck]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # The remains of something badly damaged, as a ship, car or building.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A person in very poor health or spirits.^(Collins 2023)^(Etymonline)

+ # ''(chiefly US)'' A road or rail accident.^(Etymonline)^(AHD)

+ # ''(law)'' Goods washed ashore from a wrecked ship.^(Collins 2023)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To destroy or badly damage, as in a collision.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # To ruin: ''to wreck someone's plans''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[shipwreck]]

+ * [[wreckfish]]

+ * [[wreckful]]

+ * [[wrecker]]

+ * [[wreckage]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[wreak]]

+ * [[wrack]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}