English
infringe
Infringe comes from Latin īnfringō ‘to break off, break, bruise, weaken, destroy’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg-.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰreg-1‘to break’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfrangō2as frangere‘to break’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEīnfringō2‘to break off, break, bruise, weaken, destroy’
- Englishearliest quotation 1789infringe2
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Latin frango
- 2 Wiktionary, English infringe
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1789, Second Amendment to the United States Co: “A well regulated Militia, being neceſsary to the security…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰreg-Wiktionary, Latin frango‘to break’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfrangōWiktionary, English infringeas frangere‘to break’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEīnfringōWiktionary, English infringe‘to break off, break, bruise, weaken, destroy’
- Englishearliest quotation 1789infringeWiktionary, English infringe. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1789, Second Amendment to the United States Co: “A well regulated Militia, being neceſsary to the security…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg- ‘to break’
break, broken, broke, brake, bracket, fraction, brigade, bray, frail, suffrage, breech, brogan, brogue, 35 more
through Latin frangō ‘to break’
fragile, fracture, fragment, refrain, fret, diffraction, fractal, refractory, refraction, infraction, 16 more
Today it means
verb To break or violate a treaty, a law, a right, etc.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “infringe”; 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- / infringe