refringere

Refringere is a Latin verb meaning to break again or to break back, used in classical texts to describe the act of breaking something anew or reversing a breaking action. It is a third‑conjugation verb and appears in literal contexts as well as in figurative uses, where the sense can extend to renewing or restoring a disruption.

Etymologically, refringere combines the prefix re- with a root related to breaking or bending. The present participle refringens gives rise to related adjectives in later Latin and in English derivatives. In Latin usage, the verb would have typical verb forms across tenses, voices, and moods, including perfect and pluperfect constructions, though exact forms vary by author and period.

In English, refringere is the direct source of the adjectives refringent and refringence. These terms occur primarily in optics and crystallography, where refringent (or birefringent) crystals are those that split a light ray into two rays with different velocities. The noun refringence and the related term refringent thus describe light‑propagation properties that arise from the material’s interaction with light, rather than from the act of breaking. The word is now chiefly of philological or historical interest, as modern scientific discussion uses refraction, refractive index, and birefringence rather than the Latin verb itself.