Etymograph

English

irrefragable

Irrefragable comes from Late Latin irrefrāgābilis, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg- ‘to break’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰreg-1‘to break’root named by Wiktionary
  2. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEirrefrāgābilis1
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1593irrefragable1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English irrefragable
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1593, Gabriell Haruey [i.e., Gabriel Harvey]: “Beſide, what methodicall artiſt would allow the encomium of…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰreg-Wiktionary, English irrefragable‘to break’root named by Wiktionary
  2. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEirrefrāgābilisWiktionary, English irrefragable
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1593irrefragableWiktionary, English irrefragable. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1593, Gabriell Haruey [i.e., Gabriel Harvey]: “Beſide, what methodicall artiſt would allow the encomium of…”

The story

Learned borrowing from Late Latin irrefrāgābilis (‘irrefragable’) + English -able (suffix forming adjectives with the sense ‘able or fit to be done’). Irrefrāgābilis is derived from Latin ir- (variant of in- (prefix meaning ‘not’)) + refrāgārī + -bilis (suffix forming adjectives indicating a capacity or worth of being acted upon); while refrāgārī is the present active infinitive of refrāgor (‘to oppose, resist; to gainsay, thwart’) (further etymology uncertain, possibly from re- (prefix meaning ‘again’) + fragor (‘a breaking, shattering; a crash; din, uproar’) (from frangō (‘to break, shatter’), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg- (‘to break’))), formed as an antonym of suffrāgōr, the first-person singular present passive indicative of suffrāgō (‘to support; to vote for’).uncertain The source flags this step as uncertain.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

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

break, broken, broke, brake, brigade, bracket, fraction, fracture, fragile, fragment, bray, refrain, suffrage, frail, fret, infringe, breech, fractal, brogan, refractory, brogue, 37 more

Today it means

adj Which cannot be refuted; clearly right, incontrovertible, indisputable, irrefutable.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “irrefragable”. 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- / irrefragable

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