Etymograph

English

fragor

Fragor comes from Latin fragor ‘a breaking to pieces’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰreg-1‘to break’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfrangō2‘to break’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfragor2‘a breaking to pieces’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1709fragor2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin frango
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English fragor
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1709, Isaac Watts: “The direful fragor, when some southern blast / Tears…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰreg-Wiktionary, Latin frango‘to break’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfrangōWiktionary, English fragor‘to break’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfragorWiktionary, English fragor‘a breaking to pieces’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1709fragorWiktionary, English fragor. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1709, Isaac Watts: “The direful fragor, when some southern blast / Tears…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg- ‘to break’

break, broken, broke, brigade, brake, bracket, fraction, bray, breech, suffrage, frail, brogan, brogue, 34 more

through Latin frangō ‘to break’

fracture, fragile, refrain, fret, fragment, infringe, diffraction, infraction, fractal, refraction, refractory, 15 more

Today it means

noun A loud and sudden sound; the report of anything bursting; a crash.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “fragor”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin frango. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg- / fragor

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