Etymology

heartbroken

H4E1A1R1T1B3R1O1K5E1N1

Today it means: Suffering from grief, especially after a failed romance. Full definition →

English broken ← Middle English herte ← Old English heorte
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*ḱerd-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*ḱérd
  3. Proto-Germanic*hertô
  4. Proto-West Germanic*hertā
  5. Old Englishheorte
  6. Middle Englishherte
  7. Englishheart
  8. Englishbroken
  9. English todayheartbroken

From heart + broken.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.