fragile

fragile

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French fragile, from Latin fragilis, formed on frag-, the root of frangere (“to break”). Cognate fraction, fracture and doublet of frail.

Pronunciation

• (UK, General Australian, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈfɹædʒaɪl/

  • Audio (CA)

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈfɹæd͡ʒəl/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ædʒaɪl, -ædʒəl

Adjective

fragile (comparative fragiler or more fragile, superlative fragilest or most fragile)

1. Easily broken or destroyed, and thus often of subtle or intricate structure.

   The chemist synthesizes a fragile molecule.

   The UN tries to maintain the fragile peace process in the region.

2. (UK) Feeling weak or easily disturbed as a result of illness.
3. (UK) Thin-skinned or oversensitive.

   He is a very fragile person and gets easily depressed.

Synonyms

• friable
• breakly
• breakable
• destroyable
• destructible
• See also Thesaurus:fragile

Antonyms

• durable
• unbreakable
• undestroyable
• indestructible
• antifragile

Derived terms

• fragile X syndrome
• fragilely

Related terms

• fractal
• fraction
• fractional
• fracture
• fragility
• frail
• frailty
• frangible

Translations

easily broken or destroyed

Arabic: هَشّ‎ m (hašš) Armenian: փխրուն (hy) (pʿxrun) Asturian: fráxil (ast) Azerbaijani: kövrək (az), zərif (az) Basque: hauskor Belarusian: кро́хкі (króxki), ло́мкі (lómki), хра́пкі (xrápki) Bulgarian: чуплив (bg) (čupliv), трошлив (bg) (trošliv), крехък (bg) (krehǎk) Catalan: fràgil (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 容易破碎 (róngyì pòsuì), 易碎的 (yìsuìde), 脆弱的 (cuìruòde) Czech: křehký (cs) m Danish: skrøbelig, spinkel Dutch: broos (nl), fragiel (nl), breekbaar (nl) Esperanto: fragila Estonian: habras Finnish: hauras (fi), särkyvä (fi) French: fragile (fr) Galician: fráxil Georgian: მყიფე (mq̇ipe), მტვრევადი (mṭvrevadi) German: fragil (de), zerbrechlich (de) Greek: εύθραυστος (el) m (éfthrafstos) Hebrew: שביר‎ (he) (shavir) Hindi: नाज़ुक (nāzuk) Hungarian: törékeny (hu) Icelandic: brothættur (is) Ido: frajila (io) Indonesian: rapuh (id) Italian: fragile (it) Jamaican Creole: pyaa-pyaa Japanese: 壊れやすい (こわれやすい, kowareyasui), 脆い (ja) (もろい, moroi), 脆弱な (ja) (ぜいじゃくな, zeijaku-na) Kazakh: морт (mort), осал (osal) Korean: 깨지기 쉬운 (kkaejigi swiun), 파손주의 (pasonjuui) Latin: fragilis Latvian: trausls, plīstošs Lithuanian: trapus, dūžtamas Macedonian: трошлив (trošliv), кршлив (kršliv) Malay: rapuh (ms) Maltese: fraġli Manx: so-vrishey Maori: kōpīpī, makuhane (of fibres), kōpīpī, pīrahi Norwegian: Bokmål: skjør Nynorsk: skøyr Papiamentu: bròs Persian: شکننده‎ (fa) (šekanande) Polish: kruchy (pl) Portuguese: frágil (pt) Romanian: fragil (ro) Russian: хру́пкий (ru) (xrúpkij), ло́мкий (ru) (lómkij) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: фра̏гӣлан, ло̀мљив Roman: frȁgīlan (sh), lòmljiv (sh) Slovak: krehký m Slovene: krhek (sl) m Spanish: frágil (es) Swedish: ömtålig (sv), skör (sv) Thai: please add this translation if you can Turkish: kırılgan (tr), narin (tr), hassas (tr), çıtkırıldım (tr), kırılabilir Ukrainian: крихки́й (kryxkýj), ламки́й (lamkýj), ломки́й (lomkýj) Vietnamese: dễ vỡ, dể bể Westrobothnian: frøn, froin

Noun

fragile (plural fragiles)

1. Something that is fragile.

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French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin fragilis. Doublet of frêle.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fʁa.ʒil/

• Audio (France, Paris)

  (file)

• Homophone: fragiles

Adjective

fragile (plural fragiles)

1. fragile

Derived terms

• saule fragile

Related terms

• fragiliser
• fragilité

Further reading

• “fragile”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• giflera

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German

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

fragile

1. inflection of fragil:
   1. strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
   2. strong nominative/accusative plural
   3. weak nominative all-gender singular
   4. weak accusative feminine/neuter singular

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Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin fragilem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfra.d͡ʒi.le/
• Rhymes: -adʒile
• Hyphenation: frà‧gi‧le

Adjective

fragile (plural fragili, superlative fragilissimo)

1. fragile

Derived terms

• fragilmente
• infragilire

Related terms

• frale
• fragilità

Further reading

• fragile in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Anagrams

• fraglie

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Latin

Adjective

fragile

1. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular of fragilis