breken

From Middle Dutch brēken, from Old Dutch *brecan, from Proto-West Germanic *brekan, from Proto-Germanic *brekaną, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg-.

• IPA^(key): /ˈbreːkə(n)/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: bre‧ken
• Rhymes: -eːkən

breken

1. (ergative) to break

• Afrikaans: breek
• Berbice Creole Dutch: breke
• Negerhollands: breek

• berken

• bräken (especially southern Lower Saxony, eastern dialects)
• briäken (Westphalia)
• braeken, breaken, brekken (New Saxon Spelling)

From Middle Low German brēken, from Old Saxon brekan, from Proto-West Germanic *brekan, from Proto-Germanic *brekaną, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg-. Cognate to Plautdietsch bräken, English break, West Frisian brekke, Danish brække, German brechen, Dutch breken.

• IPA^(key): /ˈbreːkən/, [breːkŋ̍]

breken (third-person singular simple present brickt, past tense brook, past participle broken, auxiliary verb hebben)

1. (especially coastal dialects) to break

From Old Dutch *brecan, from Proto-West Germanic *brekan, from Proto-Germanic *brekaną, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg-.

brēken

1. to break, to break into pieces
2. to break, to be broken
3. to destroy
4. to break in
5. to end, to diminish, to weaken
6. to break, to overcome resistance, to subdue

• gebrēken
• misbrēken
• ontbrēken
• tebrēken
• verbrēken

• Dutch: breken
• Limburgish: braeke

• “breken (II)”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E.; Verdam, J. (1885–1929), “breken”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN

• brake, breek, brek, breke, breyken
• breoken (AB language)

Inherited from Old English brecan, from Proto-West Germanic *brekan, from Proto-Germanic *brekaną. Doublet of brayen (“to break up”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈbrɛ̞ːkən/

breken (third-person singular simple present breketh, present participle brekynge, first-/third-person singular past indicative brak, past participle breken or broken)

1. To break up or split; to break into two or more pieces:
   • c. 1395, John Wycliffe, John Purvey [et al.], transl., Bible (Wycliffite Bible (later version), MS Lich 10.)‎^[1], published c. 1410, Apocalips 2:27, page 118r, column 1; republished as Wycliffe's translation of the New Testament, Lichfield: Bill Endres, 2010:

     "he ſchal gou̇ne hem ın an ırẽ ȝerde / ⁊ þei ſchulẽ be bꝛokũ togıdere .· as a veſſel of a pottere

     He'll control them with an iron rod, and they'll be broken apart like a potter's vessel.

   1. To pulverise; to break into innumerable small pieces.
   2. To break off; to split from a larger whole.
   3. (figurative, of the heart) To ruin or break.
   4. To injure (a person or bone)
      • c. 1395, John Wycliffe, John Purvey [et al.], transl., Bible (Wycliffite Bible (later version), MS Lich 10.)‎^[2], published c. 1410, Joon 19:36, page 55r, column 1; republished as Wycliffe's translation of the New Testament, Lichfield: Bill Endres, 2010:

        and þeſe thingis werẽ don .· that the ſcripture ſchulde be fillid / ȝe ſchulen not bꝛeke a boon of hym

        These things occurred so Scripture could be fulfilled: "You won't break any of his bones".

2. To ruin or destroy:
   1. To dissolve or scatter (an institution or group)
   2. To mentally weaken or corrode; to break down.
   3. To violate; to fail to adhere to.
   4. To stop, end, or terminate.
   5. (medicine) To destroy or split (a pustule, rheum, etc.)
3. To pierce, break open or break into:
   1. To breach; to forcibly enter (especially to rob).
   2. To rupture or dent (fabric, a membrane, or the soil).
   3. (rare) To erupt; to break into (e.g. action or speech).
4. To break out; to escape from.
5. To pause or interrupt; to temporarily stop.
6. To swerve or bend; to be or put in a curve.

• English: break
• Middle Scots: brek, breke
  • Scots: brack, breck, brak, brek
• Yola: brough, brocke, brek

• “brēken, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
• Rettger, James Frederick (1934), “The Development of Ablaut in the Strong Verbs of the East Midland Dialects of Middle English”, in Language (Language Dissertations; 16)‎^[3], volume 10, number 4, Philadelphia: Linguistic Society of America, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC, part 1 (Verbs of the Regular Ablaut Classes), chapter 4 (Verbs of the Fourth Ablaut Class), pages 45-49.