breakable (English)
Where does "breakable" come from?
English breakable is simply break plus the adjectival suffix -able, meaning “capable of being.” Break goes back through Middle English breken to Old English brecan, from Proto-Germanic *brekaną and ultimately Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg- “to break.” The suffix -able entered English via Middle English from Old French -able, from Latin -ābilis (built on -bilis), so the whole word literally means “able to be broken,” hence “fragile.”
Full etymology tree
- breakable (English), 'Able to break or be broken.'
- compound of break (English), 'To separate into two or more pieces, to fracture or crack, by a process that cannot easily be reversed for reassembly.'
- inherited from breken (Middle English), 'To break up or split; to break into two or more pieces'
- inherited from brecan (Old English), 'to break'
- inherited from *brekan (Proto-West Germanic), 'to break'
- inherited from *brekaną (Proto-Germanic), 'to break'
- derived from *bʰreg- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to break'
- inherited from *brekaną (Proto-Germanic), 'to break'
- inherited from *brekan (Proto-West Germanic), 'to break'
- inherited from brecan (Old English), 'to break'
- inherited from breken (Middle English), 'To break up or split; to break into two or more pieces'
- suffix -able (English), 'An adjectival suffix; forms adjectives meaning:'
- inherited from -able (Middle English), 'Forming adjectives denoting ability, relevance or inclination; -able.'
- borrowed from -able (Old French), 'worthy of, deserving of'
- inherited from -ābilis (Latin), '-able; able or worthy to be.'
- derived from -bilis (Latin), '-(a)ble; used to form an adjective, usually from a verb, indicating a capacity or worth of being acted upon.'
- inherited from *-ðlis (Proto-Italic), 'Forms adjectives from verb stems indicating capacity or worth of being acted on.'
- inherited from *-dʰlis (Proto-Indo-European)
- derived from *-dʰlom (Proto-Indo-European), 'alternative form of *-trom'
- inherited from *-dʰlis (Proto-Indo-European)
- inherited from *-ðlis (Proto-Italic), 'Forms adjectives from verb stems indicating capacity or worth of being acted on.'
- derived from -bilis (Latin), '-(a)ble; used to form an adjective, usually from a verb, indicating a capacity or worth of being acted upon.'
- inherited from -ābilis (Latin), '-able; able or worthy to be.'
- borrowed from -able (Old French), 'worthy of, deserving of'
- inherited from -able (Middle English), 'Forming adjectives denoting ability, relevance or inclination; -able.'
- compound of break (English), 'To separate into two or more pieces, to fracture or crack, by a process that cannot easily be reversed for reassembly.'
Direct ancestors
Updated March 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris