fraction

English

Etymology

From Middle English fraccioun (a breaking), from Anglo-Norman, from Latin fractio (“a breaking, a breaking into pieces, in Medieval Latin. a fragment, portion”), from frangere (“to break”), past participle fractus.

Pronunciation

• enPR: frăkʹshən, IPA: /ˈfræk.ʃən/, SAMPA: /"fr{kS@n/
• Rhymes: -ækʃən

Noun

fraction (plural fractions)

1. A part of a whole, especially a comparatively small part.
   • 1992, Rudolf M. Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, page vii

     With fresh material, taxonomic conclusions are leavened by recognition that the material examined reflects the site it occupied; a herbarium packet gives one only a small fraction of the data desirable for sound conclusions. Herbarium material does not, indeed, allow one to extrapolate safely: what you see is what you get […]

2. (arithmetic) A ratio of two numbers, the numerator and the denominator, usually written one above the other and separated by a vinculum (horizontal bar)
3. (chemistry) A component of a mixture, separated by fractionation.
4. In a eucharistic service, the breaking of the host.
5. A small amount.
   • 2011 January 29, Chris Bevan, “Torquay 0 - 1 Crawley Town”, BBC:

     After kick-off was delayed because of crowd congestion, Torquay went closest to scoring in a cagey opening 30 minutes, when Danny Stevens saw a fierce shot from the edge of the area swerve a fraction wide.

Quotations

• For examples of the usage of this term see the citations page.

Derived terms

fractional common fraction decimal fraction Egyptian fraction field of fractions improper fraction

ordinal fraction partial fraction decomposition, partial fraction expansion proper fraction unit fraction vulgar fraction

Related terms

• fractal
• fracture
• fragment
• fragile
• frail
• frangible

Translations

part of a whole

Catalan: fracció, f. Croatian: dȉo (hr) m., òdsječak (hr) m. Czech: zlomek (cs) m. Danish: brøkdel (da) c. Finnish: murto-osa (fi) French: fraction (fr) f. German: Bruchteil (de) m. Irish: codán (ga) m. Italian: frazione (it) f. Japanese: 断片 (dan-pen)

Macedonian: дел (mk) (del) m., делче (mk) (délče) n. Norwegian: andel (no) m., brøkdel (no) m., brøk (no) m.; fraksjon (no) m. Polish: ułamek (pl) m., cząstka (pl) f. Portuguese: (Brazil) fração f., (Portugal) fracção f. Russian: часть (ru) f. Scottish Gaelic: bìdeag (gd) f.,criomag (gd) f.,mìr (gd) m. Spanish: fracción, f. Swedish: bråkdel (sv) c.

arithmetic: ratio

Armenian: կոտորակ (hy) (kotorak) Catalan: fracció, f. Croatian: rázlomak (hr) m. Czech: zlomek (cs) m. Danish: brøk (da) c. Dutch: breuk (nl) c. Finnish: murtoluku (fi) French: fraction (fr) f. German: Bruch (de) m. Greek: κλάσμα (el) (klásma) n. Hungarian: tört (hu), törtszám (hu) Irish: codán (ga) m. Italian: frazione (it) f.

Japanese: 分数 (bunsū) Macedonian: дропка (mk) (drópka) f. Norwegian: brøk (no) m., fraksjon (no) m. Persian: کسر (fa) Polish: ułamek (pl) m. Portuguese: (Brazil) fração f., (Portugal) fracção f. Russian: дробь (ru) f. Scottish Gaelic: bloigh (gd) f. Slovene: ulomek (sl) m. Spanish: fracción, f., quebrado m. Swedish: bråk (sv) n. Tajik: каср (tg)

chemistry: component separated by fractionation

Finnish: jae (fi)

Russian: фракция (ru) (frákcija) f.

eucharistic service: breaking of the host

Finnish: murtaminen (fi)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

Latin: fractio

Verb

fraction (third-person singular simple present fractions, present participle fractioning, simple past and past participle fractioned)

1. To divide or break into fractions.

Translations

to divide intio fractions

Finnish: fraktioida (fi)

References

• “fraction” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, v1.0.1, Lexico Publishing Group, 2006.
• “fraction” in The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000.
• "fraction" in WordNet 3.0, Princeton University, 2006.

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French

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

fraction f. (plural fractions)

1. fraction (small amount)

   Je me suis endormi pendant une fraction de secondes.

2. (mathematics) fraction

   En divisant deux par trois, on obtient une fraction irréductible.

3. fraction, breakup

Derived terms

• fractionnaire
• fractionner

Anagrams

• fronçait