## Meanings
1. Destruction or ruin (especially in the phrase 'wrack and ruin').
2. To cause great pain or suffering to someone (often as 'wracked with').
3. Seaweed, especially the kind washed up on the shore.

## Examples
- The once grand house had fallen into wrack and ruin.
- Her body was wracked with pain after the long illness.
- The beach was strewn with brown wrack after the storm.

## Derived Forms
- storm-wracked
- tangle-wrack
- tidewrack

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: wrak
- Root: *wrekaną

## Etymology
Late Middle English, from Middle Dutch wrak, ultimately related to Proto-Germanic *wrekaną (“to drive out”), the source of wreak and wreck. Doublet of vraic. Cognate with German Wrack, Old Norse rek, Danish vrag, Swedish vrak, Old English wræc); also compare Gothic 𐍅𐍂𐌹𐌺𐌰𐌽 (wrikan), 𐍅𐍂𐌰𐌺𐌾𐌰𐌽 (wrakjan, “persecute”), Old Norse reka (“drive”).

## AI Etymology
Wrack is traced through late Middle English, from Middle Dutch wrak, ultimately related to Proto-Germanic *wrekaną (“to drive out”), the source of wreak and wreck. Doublet of vraic. Cognate with German Wrack, Old Norse rek, Danish vrag, Swedish vrak, Old English wræc); also compare Gothic 𐍅𐍂𐌹𐌺𐌰𐌽 (wrikan), 𐍅𐍂𐌰𐌺𐌾𐌰𐌽 (wrakjan, “persecute”), Old Norse reka (“drive”). In present-day use, it can mean destruction or ruin (especially in the phrase 'wrack and ruin'), or to cause great pain or suffering to someone (often as 'wracked with'). Derived formations include storm-wracked, tangle-wrack, and tidewrack.

## Topics
- Space, Position & Direction

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