barakti

One root, no seam, nothing to take apart. Barakt- is a single indivisible root. There is no bar-, no -akt-, and the resemblance to akto is pure accident. Say it once and move on, because the interesting thing about this word is not its shape but its meaning.

What it actually pictures. Barakti is the physical flailing of something caught: a fish on a line, a beetle on its back, a swimmer out of their depth, an animal in a net. The movement is violent, it is repeated, and the strong implication is that it is not working. That last part is the whole word.

Against its neighbours, and the distinction is sharp.

• Lukti - to wrestle, to struggle against an opponent. There is somebody on the other side of it, even if the opponent is an abstraction: lukti kontraŭ maljusteco.
• Peni and provi - to make an effort, to try. Neutral about the outcome.
• Barakti - to thrash about. No opponent required, and the effort is usually futile.

You luktas kontraŭ somebody. You baraktas full stop, or baraktas en something. It is intransitive.

The figurative reach is where you will meet it in print. A business, a government or a person can barakti - floundering in debt, in paperwork, in a language they have not learned yet. English floundering carries the same mixture of visible effort and invisible progress, and the two words map onto each other almost exactly.

Derived forms. Baraktado is the thrashing considered as an ongoing business, which is generally what a flounder is.