rend

Meanings

Verb

• To separate into parts with force or sudden violence; to split; to burst
• To part or tear off forcibly; to take away by force; to amputate.
• To be rent or torn; to become parted; to separate; to split.

Noun

• A violent separation of parts.

Origin

• From Middle English renden, from Old English rendan, from Proto-West Germanic *hrandijan, of uncertain origin. Believed by some to be the causative of Proto-Germanic *hrindaną, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱret-, *kret-, which would make it related to Old English hrindan. Cognate with Scots rent, Old Frisian renda.