broken

Wikipedia

See also Broken

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: brōk'ən, IPA: /ˈbrəʊkən/, X-SAMPA: /"br@Uk@n/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊkən

Verb

broken

1. Past participle of break

Adjective

broken (comparative more broken, superlative most broken)

1. Fragmented, in separate pieces.
2. (of a body part) Having the bone in pieces, fractured.

   My arm is broken

3. (of a line) Dashed, made up of short lines with small gaps between each one and the next.
4. (of skin) Split or ruptured.

   A dog bit my leg and now the skin is broken.

5. Not working properly.

   I think my shaver is broken.

6. Completely defeated and dispirited.

   The bankruptcy and divorce, together with the death of his son, left him completely broken.

7. (pejorative, of language) Grammatically non-standard, especially as a result of being a non-native speaker.
8. Having no money, bankrupt, broke.
9. (of an electronic connection) Disconnected, no longer open or carrying traffic.
10. (software, informal) Badly designed or implemented.

    This is the most broken application I've seen in a long time.

11. (meteorology, of the sky) Five-eighths to seven-eighths obscured by clouds.

    Tomorrow broken skies.

12. (sports and gaming, of a tactic or option) overpowered
13. (colloquial, US, of a situation) Not having gone in the way intended; saddening.

    Oh man! That is just broken!

Usage notes

• Nouns to which "broken" is often applied: glass, vase, cup, mirror, window, bone, wing, leg, arm, hand, foot, egg, tool, sword, column, road, bridge, stick, device, machine, camera, TV, car, computer, promise, vow, law, trust, dream, relationship, friendship, love, family, marriage, bond, tie, silence, ground, land, circle, image, language, spirit, soul.

Related terms

• breach

Translations

fragmented

• Arabic: مكسور (ar) (maksuur)
• Aromanian: aruptu (rup), frãmtu (rup)
• Bulgarian: счупен (bg) (sčupen)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 破碎 (cmn) (pòsuì), (+ -的 -de) 打破 dǎpò (cmn), 壞 (cmn), 坏 (cmn) (huài)

• Dutch: gebroken, geknakt
• Esperanto: disrompita (eo)
• Finnish: rikki (fi), hajalla (fi)
• French: cassé (fr), brisé (fr), rompu (fr)
• Galician: crebado (gl), quebrado (gl)
• German: gebrochen (de)
• Greek: σπασμένος (el) (spasménos) 
• Irish: briste (ga)

• Italian: rotto (it)
• Japanese: 壊れた (ja) (kowareta), 割れた (ja) (wareta)
• Khmer: ដែលបែក (km) (daelbaek)
• Kyrgyz: сынган (ky) (sıngan), талкаланган (ky) (talkalangan), бузулган (ky) (buzulgan), иштебеген (ky) (iştebegen), жараланган (ky) (caralangan), жарылган (ky) (carılgan), шалдыраган (ky) (şaldıragan), чарчаган (ky) (çarçagan), алсыз (ky) (alsız), жеңилген (ky) (ceñilgen), бузук (ky) (buzuk)
• Polish: połamany (pl)
• Portuguese: quebrado (pt)
• Romanian: rupt (ro), frânt (ro)
• Russian: сломанный (ru) (slómannyj) 
• Scottish Gaelic: briste (gd)
• Serbo-Croatian: razbijen (sh)
• Spanish: roto (es), quebrado (es)
• Swedish: bruten (sv)
• Tok Pisin: bruk (tpi)
• Turkish: kırık (tr)

having the bone in pieces, fractured

• Bulgarian: счупен (bg) (sčupen)
• Chamicuro: katsala'taka (fractured)
• Dutch: gebroken, verbijzeld
• Finnish: murtunut (fi)
• Greek: σπασμένος (el) (spasménos) 

• Irish: briste (ga)
• Serbo-Croatian: slomljen (sh)
• Swedish: bruten (sv)
• Tok Pisin: bruk (tpi)
• Turkish: kırık (tr)

of a line: dashed

• Finnish: katkoviivainen (fi)
• German: gestrichelt (de)

• Portuguese: tracejada (pt) f

of skin: split or ruptured

• Bulgarian: разкъсан (bg) (razkǎsan)
• Dutch: gebroken, opengereten
• Greek: σκισμένο (el) (skisméno) 

• Finnish: rikki (fi)
• Swedish: brusten (sv)
• Tok Pisin: bruk (tpi)

not working properly

• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Bulgarian: разбит (bg) (razbit), повреден (bg) (povreden)
• Czech: rozbitý (cs) m
• Dutch: defect (nl), kapot (nl)
• Esperanto: difektita (eo), rompita (eo)
• Finnish: rikkinäinen (fi), rikki (fi), epäkunnossa (fi)
• French: cassé (fr), (slang) niqué (fr), (unformal) pété (fr)
• Georgian: გაფუჭებული (ka) (gap’učebuli)
• German: gebrochen (de), kaputt (de), kaputt (de)

• Greek: χαλασμένος (el) (chalasménos)
• Irish: briste (ga)
• Persian: خراب (fa) (xarâb)
• Romanian: please add this translation if you can
• Slovene: pokvarjen
• Swedish: trasig (sv)
• Tok Pisin: bruk (tpi)
• Turkish: bozuk (tr)

completely defeated and dispirited

• Bulgarian: съсипан (bg) (sǎsipan)
• Dutch: gebroken (nl), gekraakt (nl)
• Finnish: murtunut (fi)
• German: gebrochen (de), zerstört (de)

• Greek: σπασμένος (el) (spasménos) 
• Slovene: zlomljen
• Swedish: bruten (sv)

poorly spoken

• Dutch: gebroken (nl)
• Finnish: murrettu (fi), murteellinen (fi)
• German: gebrochen (de)

• Greek: σπαστά (el) (spastá)
• Irish: briste (ga)
• Swedish: bruten (sv)

having no money

• Bulgarian: разорен (bg) (razoren)
• Dutch: gepluimd (nl), blut (nl)

• Finnish: puhki (fi), rahaton (fi)
• Greek: άφραγκος (el) (áfragkos) m 
• Swedish: pank (sv)

disconnected

• Bulgarian: прекъснат (bg) (prekǎsnat)
• Dutch: afgebroken (nl), verbroken (nl)

• Finnish: katkennut (fi)
• Greek: κομμένος (el) (koménos) n 
• Swedish: bruten (sv)

of software: badly designed or implemented

• Dutch: kaduuk (nl)
• Finnish: surkea (fi)

• Swedish: trasig (sv)

meteorology: five eighths to seven eighths obscured by clouds

• Finnish: melko pilvinen (fi)

• Swedish: mulen (sv)

sports and gaming: a very powerful tactic

• Finnish: ratkaiseva (fi)

• German: unfair (de)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Hebrew: שבור (shavur) (1,2,4); מקולקל (mequlqal) m, מקולקלת (mequlqelet) f (3)
• Indonesian: pecah, patah, retak, rusak
• Italian: in avaria
• Latin: fractus
• Slovene: zlomljen

• Spanish: roto (1, 2), desfuncionado
• Telugu: ముక్కలైన (mukkalaina), బద్దలైన (baddalaina), వ్రక్కలైన (vrakkalaina), విరిగిన (virigina) (1)
• Turkish: kırık, bölünmüş
• Vietnamese: bị vỡ (1, 2), bị bể (1)

Derived terms

a broken clock is right twice a day broke broken home brokenly brokenness broken arrow broken by design

broken heart, brokenhearted broken in broken promise broken wind heartbroken housebroken broken skin

Statistics

• Most common English words before 1923: follow · chance · happened · #641: broken · trouble · die · arm