Etymology

bebreak

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Today it means: To break to pieces; break completely; shatter; destroy. Full definition →

Middle English *bebreken ← Old English bebrecan ← Proto-West Germanic *bibrekan
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The story

  1. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*bibrekan“to break, shatter”
  2. Old English · inherited frombebrecan“to break to pieces”
  3. Middle English · inherited from*bebreken
  4. English todaybebreak

From Middle English *bebreken, *bibreken, from Old English bebrecan (“to break to pieces”), from Proto-West Germanic *bibrekan (“to break, shatter”), equivalent to be- + break. Cognate with Low German bebreken, German bebrechen.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.