Compound words with BREAK

BREAK is a hinge word: 3 words make a compound in front of it and 5 make one after it, so it can sit in the middle of a chain and hold two compounds together at once.

Words that go in front of BREAK

Each of these makes a compound ending in BREAK.

• daybreak — day + break
• heartbreak — heart + break
• outbreak — out + break

Words that follow BREAK

Each of these makes a compound starting with BREAK.

• breakaway — break + away
• breakdown — break + down
• breakfast — break + fast
• breakout — break + out
• breakthrough — break + through

Why BREAK joins on both sides

BREAK is one of the few hinges that is mostly a verb. OUTBREAK and DAYBREAK turn it into a noun, BREAKFAST literally breaks the night's fast, and BREAKDOWN and BREAKOUT are verb-plus-particle phrases frozen into single words.

Words that join BREAK on either side

These words make a compound whichever side of BREAK they sit on, usually with two unrelated meanings.

• outbreak and breakout

Bridges you can build through BREAK

Put any word from the first list in front and any word from the second behind, and you have a three-word chain in which both neighbouring pairs join. Here are some of them.

• DAY → BREAK → AWAY — daybreak and breakaway
• HEART → BREAK → DOWN — heartbreak and breakdown
• OUT → BREAK → FAST — outbreak and breakfast

Play a bridge

KEYSTONE is a free daily puzzle built entirely out of chains like these. You get the two ends and have to fill the two words in the middle. Three bridges a day, no account, no cookies.

Play today's KEYSTONE

Other hinge words

Each of these has a page like this one. There is also an index of all 28.

BACK · BALL · BED · BOARD · BOOK · DAY · DOWN · FALL · FIRE · GUN · HAND · HEAD · HOUSE · LAND · LIFE · LIGHT · MAN · NIGHT · OFF · OUT · OVER · SHIP · SIDE · SOME · TIME · WAY · WORK