Meanings
present singular third person tobreaks · participle present tobreaking · past tobroke · participle past tobroken · alternative tobrake · alternative to-break · alternative to break
- ambitransitiveobsoleteTo break apart; break in pieces.
Origin
- Proto-Germanic*tebrekaną“to break apart”
- Proto-West Germanic*tebrekan
- Old Englishtōbrecan
- Middle Englishtobreken“to break apart, break in pieces, shatter”
- Englishtobreak
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”).
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
tobreak. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tobreak
“tobreak.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tobreak. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tobreak,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tobreak.
Source: tobreak on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.