tobreak

The story

1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*tebrekaną“to break apart”
2. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*tebrekan
3. Old English · inherited fromtōbrecan
4. Middle English · inherited fromtobreken“to break apart, break in pieces, shatter”
5. English todaytobreak

From Middle English tobreken (“to break apart, break in pieces, shatter”), from Old English tōbrecan, tebrecan (“to break in pieces, break apart”), from Proto-West Germanic *tebrekan, from Proto-Germanic *tebrekaną (“to break apart”), equivalent to to- (“apart, in pieces”) + break. Cognate with Old Saxon tebrekan (“to break apart”), German Low German tobreken (“to break, shatter, smash”), Middle Dutch tebreken (“to break apart, shatter”), German zerbrechen (“to break apart, shatter, smash”).