zerbrechen

== German == === Etymology === From Middle High German zerbrëchen, ziprëchen (also as zoprëchen, zuprëchen, zurprëchen), from Old High German zibrëhhan, zirbrëhhan, from Proto-Germanic *tebrekaną, *twizbrekaną (“to break apart, break in two”), equivalent to zer- +‎ brechen. Cognate with archaic English tobreak. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): [tsɐˈbʁɛçn̩], [tsɐˈbʁɛçən] === Verb === zerbrechen (class 4 strong, third-person singular present zerbricht, past tense zerbrach, past participle zerbrochen, past subjunctive zerbräche, auxiliary haben or sein) (transitive) to break into pieces, to shatter, to snap (to cause an object to come apart into discrete pieces) [auxiliary haben] Paul hat vor Wut seinen Bleistift zerbrochen. ― Paul snapped his pencil out of anger. (intransitive) to break into pieces, to shatter (to come apart into discrete pieces) [auxiliary sein] to fall apart, to break up (of relationships, coalitions, groups, etc., caused by an insurmountable disagreement) ==== Usage notes ==== Transitively, zerbrechen is mainly used in a literal, physical sense. In contrast to this, the intransitive usage is also commonly employed for more abstract concepts. ==== Conjugation ==== ==== Derived terms ==== === Further reading === “zerbrechen”, in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache‎[1] (in German) “zerbrechen” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon “zerbrechen” in Duden online “zerbrechen” in OpenThesaurus.de == Middle High German == === Etymology === From Old High German zibrëhhan, zirbrëhhan, from Proto-Germanic *tebrekaną, *twizbrekaną. Equivalent to zer- +‎ brëchen. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): (before 13th CE) /t͡sərˈbrɛxːən/ === Verb === zerbrëchen (class 4 strong, third-person singular present zerbrichet, past tense zerbrach, past participle zerbrochen, past subjunctive zerbræche, auxiliary hān) (intransitive) to break, to shatter, to smash, to contravene (transitive) to break (+ accusative), to shatter, to smash, to contravene ==== Conjugation ==== ==== Descendants ==== German: zerbrechen === References === Benecke, Georg Friedrich; Müller, Wilhelm; Zarncke, Friedrich (1863), “zerbrëchen”, in Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch: mit Benutzung des Nachlasses von Benecke, Stuttgart: S. Hirzel