törni

Törni is a Hungarian verb with the core meaning of breaking, cracking, or smashing something. It denotes causing an object to lose its integrity through force or stress and is used for physical disruption of tangible things as well as for breaking or interrupting more abstract things.

In everyday use, törni can take a direct object, as in törni egy poharat (to break a glass). It can also be used intransitively in the sense that something breaks by itself, with the form törik meaning “it breaks” or “is breaking.” The verb has a perfective counterpart formed with the prefix meg-, most commonly meglát, excuse me, megszakad? In practice the most common perfective is megtörni, which emphasizes the completion of the breaking action. For example, megtörni a csendet means to break the silence, and megtörni a jeget means to break the ice in social introductions.

Hungarian uses törni in several idiomatic expressions. A well-known one is törni a jeget, meaning to break the ice, i.e., to begin a conversation or ease social tension. Another established sense appears in phrases such as megtörni a szokásokat or megtörni egy hagyományt, where the verb conveys breaking or challenging established patterns or rules, depending on context.

The noun törés (a break or fracture) is closely related, referring to the act of breaking or to a broken state. The word is native to Hungarian and appears across everyday language, prose, and idiomatic speech.