Etymograph

English

refraction

Refraction comes from Latin refringō ‘to break up or open’, 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 CErefringō2‘to break up or open’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CErefrāctiō2
  5. Englishtodayrefraction2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin frango
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English refraction

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰreg-Wiktionary, Latin frango‘to break’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfrangōWiktionary, English refraction‘to break, shatter’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CErefringōWiktionary, English refraction‘to break up or open’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CErefrāctiōWiktionary, English refraction
  5. EnglishtodayrefractionWiktionary, English refraction

Linked words

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

break, broken, broke, brigade, brake, bracket, bray, suffrage, frail, breech, brogan, brogue, 38 more

through Latin frangō ‘to break, shatter’

fragile, fragment, fracture, fret, infringe, fractal, diffraction, infraction, 18 more

Today it means

noun The turning or bending of any wave, such as a light or sound wave, when it passes from one medium into another of different optical density.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “refraction”; 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- / refraction

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