Burst

How to spell burst

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce burst

What does burst mean?

1. verbTo break open or apart suddenly, usually because of internal pressure.
2. nounA sudden short outbreak or increase of something.

Burst in a sentence

• verb

  The old water pipe will burst if the winter gets cold enough.

• noun

  A sudden burst of applause filled the lecture hall.

• verb

  Overfilled balloons tend to burst at the slightest touch.

• noun

  The runner saved a final burst of speed for the last lap.

Where does burst come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word descends directly from the Old English verb berstan, which meant 'to break apart with force' or 'to shatter', and it belongs to the native Germanic core of English rather than to any borrowed Latin or French stock. The same root surfaces across the Germanic family, in Old Norse bresta and German bersten, all carrying the sense of something snapping or splitting under pressure. In older English the consonants sat in a different order, closer to 'brest', and over the centuries the r and the vowel swapped places in a process called metathesis, which is exactly why we now write 'burst' rather than 'brust'. The meaning has stayed remarkably stable for more than a thousand years, always describing a sudden, often noisy giving way, whether of a balloon, a pipe, or a person's patience. Because it is such an old monosyllable, the spelling is phonetic and free of silent letters, which keeps it easy to set down on paper.

How the word is built

• burst (a single Old English root meaning 'to break apart suddenly'; no separable prefix or suffix)