Breakout is a noun (and attributive adjective) formed from the phrasal verb break out, combining break (Old English brecan) and out (Old English ūt). The historical trail runs through brecan in Old English. Used as a noun and adjective, breakout now means "a sudden escape, outbreak, or surge into prominence", so the present definition can be read against the older forms and meanings. The same lexical family is also visible in related forms such as break, breakaway, and breakthrough. The word is therefore part of the inherited Germanic layer of English, even where later usage has narrowed, broadened, or specialized the sense.