Etymograph

English

septifragal

Septifragal comes from Latin frangō ‘to break’, 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 CEfrangō2as frangere‘to break’
  3. Englishtodayseptifragal2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

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

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰreg-Wiktionary, Latin frango‘to break’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfrangōWiktionary, English septifragalas frangere‘to break’
  3. EnglishtodayseptifragalWiktionary, English septifragal

Linked words

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

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

through Latin frangō ‘to break’

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

Today it means

adj Breaking from the partitions; said of a method of dehiscence in which the valves of a pod break away from the partitions, while these remain attached to the common axis.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “septifragal”; 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- / septifragal

Shirt and support for this word