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Broke vs Wroke - What's the difference?

broke | wroke |

As verbs the difference between broke and wroke

is that broke is simple past of break while wroke is simple past of wreak.

As an adjective broke

is lacking money; bankrupt.

As a noun broke

is paper or board that is discarded and repulped during the manufacturing process.

broke

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • (informal) Lacking money; bankrupt
  • (informal) Broken.

    • Synonyms

    * boracic (UK rhyming slang), skint (UK slang), stony-broke (qualifier, UK slang') * See also

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (papermaking) Paper or board that is discarded and repulped during the manufacturing process.
  • *1880 , James Dunbar, The Practical Papermaker: A Complete Guide to the Manufacture of Paper , page 12:
  • *:If the broke accumulates, a larger proportion can be used in making coloured papers, otherwise the above quantity is sufiicient.
  • *1914 , The World's Paper Trade Review, Volume 62 , page 204:
  • *:Presumably, most of the brokes and waste were used up in this manner, and during the manufacture of the coarse stuff little or no attention was paid to either cleanliness or colour.
  • *2014 September 25, Judge Diane Wood, NCR Corp. v. George A. Whiting Paper Co. :
  • *:These mills purchase broke from other paper mills through middlemen and use it to make paper.

    • Verb

    (head)
  • (break)
  • (archaic, or, poetic)
  • * 1999 October 3, J. Stewart Burns, "Mars University", Futurama , season 2, episode 2, Fox Broadcasting Company
    • Guenther: I guess the hat must have broke my fall.
  • # (nautical) Demoted, deprived of a commission.
  • He was broke and rendered unfit to serve His Majesty at sea.

    • Verb

    (brok)
  • To broker; to transact business for another.
    • (Brome)
  • (obsolete) To act as procurer in love matters; to pimp.
  • * Fanshawe
    • We do want a certain necessary woman to broke between them, Cupid said.
  • * Shakespeare
    • And brokes with all that can in such a suit / Corrupt the tender honour of a maid.

    Statistics

    * English irregular simple past forms

    wroke

    English

    Verb

    (head)
  • (wreak)

    • wreak

    English

    Etymology 1

    (etyl) wrecan, from (etyl) ; cognate via PIE with Latin urgere (English urge), and distantly cognate to English wreck.

    Verb

  • To cause, inflict or let out, especially if causing harm or injury.
    • The earthquake wreaked havoc in the city.
    She wreaked her anger on his car.
  • * Macaulay
    • Now was the time to be avenged on his old enemy, to wreak a grudge of seventeen years.
  • (archaic) To inflict or take vengeance on.
  • * 1874 ,
    • ''their woe
    ''Broods maddening inwardly and scorns to wreak
    ''Itself abroad;
  • * 1856-1885 —
    • Kill the foul thief, and wreak me for my son.
  • * {{quote-book
    • , year=1917 , year_published=2008 , edition=HTML , editor= , author=Edgar Rice Burroughs , title=A Princess of Mars , chapter= citation , genre= , publisher=The Gutenberg Project , isbn= , page= , passage=At heart they hate their horrid fates, and so wreak their poor spite on me who stand for everything they have not, … }}
  • (archaic) To take vengeance for.
  • * Fairfax
    • Come wreak his loss, whom bootless ye complain.
    Usage notes
    The verb wreak'' is generally used in the form “wreak ''damage or harm of some sort'' (on ''something )”, and is often used in the set phrase wreak havoc, though “wreak damage”, “wreak destruction”, and “wreak revenge” are also common. Not to be confused with wreck, with similar meaning of destruction and similar etymological roots; common confusion in misspelling wreck havoc. It has become common to use wrought, the original past tense and participle for work, as the past tense and past participle for wreak'', as in ''wrought havoc'' (i.e. ''worked havoc'' for ''wreaked havoc''), due both to the fact that the weak form ''worked'' has edged out ''wrought'' from its former role almost entirely (except as an adjective referring usually to hand-worked metal goods), and via confusion from the ''wr-'' beginning both ''wreak'' and ''wrought , and probably by analogy with seek).
    Derived terms
    * wreak havoc

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) wreke, wrake, Northern Middle English variants of wreche, influenced later by Etymology 1, above. Compare (etyl) wraak.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (archaic, literary) Revenge; vengeance; furious passion; resentment.
  • * 1903 , George Chapman, Richard Herne Shepherd, Algernon Charles Swinburne, The Works of George Chapman :
    • However, no thought touch'd Minerva's mind, That any one should escape his wreak design'd.
  • * 2003 , John Foxe, John Cumming, Book of Martyrs and the Acts and Monuments of the Church :
    • For three causes Duke William entered this land to subdue Harold. One was, for that it was to him given by King Edward his nephew. The second was, to take wreak for the cruel murder of his nephew Alfred, King Edward's brother, and of the Normans, which deed he ascribed chiefly to Harold.
  • * 2006 , The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night - Volume 2 - Page 188:
    • Would that before my death I might but see my son The empery in my stead over the people hold And rush upon his foes and take on them his wreak , At push of sword and pike, in fury uncontrolled.
  • (archaic, literary) Punishment; retribution; payback.
  • * 1885': Of a surety none murdered the damsel but I; take her '''wreak on me this moment — Sir Richard Burton, ''The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night , Night 19

    • References

    Anagrams

    * English irregular verbs