Etymograph

English

infract

Infract comes from Latin īnfringō ‘to break off, infringe’, 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, shatter’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEīnfringō3‘to break off, infringe’
  4. Englishtodayinfract3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin frango
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin infringo
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English infract

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰreg-Wiktionary, Latin frango‘to break’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfrangōWiktionary, Latin infringo‘to break, shatter’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEīnfringōWiktionary, English infract‘to break off, infringe’
  4. EnglishtodayinfractWiktionary, English infract

Linked words

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

break, broken, broke, brigade, brake, bracket, fraction, bray, suffrage, breech, frail, brogan, brogue, 35 more

through Latin frangō ‘to break, shatter’

fragile, fragment, refrain, fret, fracture, diffraction, refractory, fractal, refraction, 16 more

through Latin īnfringō ‘to break off, infringe’

infringe

Another origin of infract

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰreg-‘to break’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfrangō‘break, fragment’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfractus‘broken’next step skipped: Latin īnfringō
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEīnfractus‘broken’
  5. Englishtodayinfract

Today it means

verb To infringe, violate or disobey (a rule).

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “infract”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin frango, Latin infringo. 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- / infract

Shirt and support for this word