Etymograph

English

retrofract

Retrofract comes from Latin fractus ‘broken, shattered, having been broken’, from frangō ‘to break’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰreg-1‘to break’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfrangō2as frangere, past participle‘to break’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfractus2‘broken, shattered, having been broken’
  4. Englishtodayretrofract2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

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

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰreg-Wiktionary, Latin frango‘to break’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfrangōWiktionary, English retrofractas frangere, past participle‘to break’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfractusWiktionary, English retrofract‘broken, shattered, having been broken’
  4. EnglishtodayretrofractWiktionary, English retrofract

Linked words

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

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

through Latin frangō ‘to break’

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

through Latin fractus ‘broken, shattered, having been broken’

fractal, 3 more

Today it means

adj Bent sharply back, so as to appear broken.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “retrofract”; 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- / retrofract

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