Break

How to spell break

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce break

What does break mean?

1. verbTo separate something into pieces, damage it, or cause it to stop working, by force or stress.
2. nounA short pause or interval that interrupts work or activity.

Break in a sentence

• verb

  A sudden drop can break the screen of an expensive phone.

• noun

  The team took a short break for coffee before the afternoon session.

• verb

  Workers were warned that overloading the shelf would break it.

• noun

  A lunch break gives staff time to step away from their desks.

Where does break come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

Break descends directly from the Old English verb brecan, which meant to shatter, snap, or burst apart, and it belongs to the native Germanic core of English rather than to any borrowed Latin or French stock. Its relatives are scattered across the Germanic family, including German brechen and Dutch breken, all carrying the same idea of forcing something to come apart. The same ancient root also gives English the surprising cousin breach, an opening forced into a wall or a barrier, and the two words still share that sense of something giving way under strain. Over the centuries the meaning branched out from the literal act of fracturing into figurative uses such as breaking a promise, breaking the news, or taking a break, where the unifying thread is an interruption or rupture in what was continuous. The spelling trap is entirely in the vowel: the ea is pronounced like a long a, which is why break and the wheel-stopping brake are exact homophones, and only context tells a writer which one is meant.

How the word is built

• break (a single Old English root verb, brecan, meaning to shatter or burst apart; no prefix or suffix)

Words that sound like break

They sound the same but mean different things, so the meaning decides which spelling to write.

• brake: A device for slowing or stopping a moving vehicle or machine.