Etymology

shelfbreak

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Today it means: An area of increasing slope that marks the edge of a continental shelf. Full definition →

English break ← Middle English breken ← Old English brecan
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*(s)kelH-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*(s)kel(H)-p-
  3. Proto-Germanic*skelfō
  4. Proto-West Germanic*skelfu:
  5. Proto-West Germanic*skilfijā
  6. Old Englishsċylfe?
  7. Middle Englishschelfe
  8. Englishshelf
  9. Proto-Indo-European*bʰreg-
  10. Proto-Indo-European*bʰrégeti
  11. Proto-Germanic*brekaną
  12. Proto-West Germanic*brekan
  13. Old Englishbrecan
  14. Middle Englishbreken
  15. Englishbreak
  16. English todayshelfbreak

From shelf + break.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.