Word of the day – rompre
rompre /ʁɔ̃pʁ/ verb = to break (up/off/with) / séparer en deux parties, briser, mettre en pièces
Examples of usage
En tombant de cheval, il s’est rompu le cou.
- he broke his leg neck falling off a horse
rompre ses chaînes
- to break one’s chains
tu nous romps la tête avec ta musique
- you’re deafening us with your music
ils ont rompu (leurs fiançailles)
- they’ve broken it off, they’ve broken off their engagement
il va se rompre les os / le cou
- he’s going to break his neck
As we haven’t had a French word of the day for a while, I thought it was time for one. To remember this word I think of someone romping around breaking things.
In the first example it should be: he broke his neck, not leg.
5ft should be “Il va se rompre”
I never really liked this verb in French, it just doesn’t sound right. I prefer ‘briser’ if I wanted to describe the verb ‘to break’, or I’d use another verb depending on the situation.
Simon:
I won’t doubt your mnemonic device, but I was immediately reminded of Latin rumpere (rumpo, rupi, ruptum) with very nearly the same basic meaning as French romprer.
Rumpere is giving us the beautiful words rupture, corrupt, bankrupt etc, and I’m confident that it is the source of the French romprer.
Also, the first example should be “en tombant DU cheval, il s’est rompu le cou.”
The past participle of rompere in Italian is Rotto, which made it easy to remember as well. (Il ponte rotto in Rome is all crumbly and rotten)
also: bancarotto (bankrupt), rompicoglione (ball-breaker)
in italian this word is rompersi and in spanish I believe it is romperse.