Etymology

break off

Today it means: To remove a piece from a whole by breaking or snapping. Full definition →

Middle English breke of
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The story

  1. Middle English · derived fromofbreken
  2. Middle English · inherited frombreke of“break off, terminate”
  3. English todaybreak off

From Middle English breke of (“break off, terminate”), a dissimilated form of earlier Middle English ofbreken. By surface analysis, break + off.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.