fragile

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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

  • Audio (Canada):

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈfɹæd͡ʒəl/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ædʒaɪl, -ædʒəl
• Hyphenation: fra‧gil

Adjective

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

1. Easily broken, not sturdy; of delicate material.

   She caught the fragile vase before it could shatter on the floor.

   The chemist synthesizes a fragile molecule.

2. (figuratively) Readily disrupted or destroyed.

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

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

   He is a very fragile person and gets easily depressed.

Synonyms

• breakable
• delicate
• destructible
• flimsy

• See also Thesaurus:fragile

Antonyms

• antifragile
• durable
• indestructible
• unbreakable

Derived terms

• fragilely
• fragile masculinity
• fragileness
• fragile X syndrome
• fragilization
• fragilize
• hyperfragile
• nonfragile
• superfragile
• ultrafragile
• unfragile
• warmblood fragile foal syndrome

Related terms

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

Translations

easily broken or destroyed

• Albanian: theç m, brishtë (sq) m
• Arabic: هَشّ m (hašš)
• Armenian: փխրուն (hy) (pʻxrun)
• Asturian: fráxil (ast)
• Azerbaijani: kövrək (az), zərif (az)
• Basque: hauskor
• Belarusian: кро́хкі (króxki), ло́мкі (lómki), хра́пкі (xrápki)
• Bhojpuri: नाचूक (nācūk)
• Bulgarian: чуплив (bg) (čupliv), трошлив (bg) (trošliv), крехък (bg) (krehǎk)
• Catalan: fràgil (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 易碎 (zh) (yìsuì), 脆弱 (zh) (cuìruò)

• Czech: křehký (cs) m
• Danish: skrøbelig, spinkel
• Dutch: broos (nl), fragiel (nl), breekbaar (nl)
• Esperanto: fragila, facilrompa
• Estonian: habras
• Finnish: hauras (fi), särkyvä (fi), hento (fi)
• French: fragile (fr)
• Galician: fráxil
• Georgian: მყიფე (mq̇ipe), მტვრევადი (mṭvrevadi)
• German: fragil (de), zerbrechlich (de)
• Greek: εύθραυστος (el) m (éfthrafstos), διαρρηκτός (el) (diarriktós)
• Hebrew: שביר (he) (shavir)
• Hindi: नाज़ुक (nāzuk)
• Hungarian: törékeny (hu)
• Icelandic: brothættur (is)
• Ido: frajila (io)
• Indonesian: rapuh (id)
• Ingrian: rappia, habras
• 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
• Māori: kōpīpī, makuhane (of fibres), kōpīpī, pīrahi
• Mauritian Creole: frazil
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: skjør

  Nynorsk: skøyr

• Papiamentu: bròs
• Persian: شکننده (fa) (šekanande), ترد (fa) (tord)
• Polish: kruchy (pl)
• Portuguese: frágil (pt)
• Romanian: fragil (ro)
• Russian: хру́пкий (ru) (xrúpkij), ло́мкий (ru) (lómkij)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: фра̏гӣлан, ло̀мљив

  Latin: frȁgīlan (sh), lòmljiv (sh)

• Slovak: krehký m
• Slovene: krhek (sl) m
• Spanish: frágil (es)
• Swedish: ömtålig (sv), skör (sv)
• Telugu: పెళుసు (te) (peḷusu)
• Thai: บอบบาง (bɔ̀ɔp-baang)
• Turkish: kırılgan (tr), narin (tr), hassas (tr), çıtkırıldım (tr), kırılabilir
• Ukrainian: крихки́й (kryxkýj), ламки́й (lamkýj), ломки́й (lomkýj)
• Vietnamese: dễ vỡ, dễ bể

Noun

fragile (plural fragiles)

1. Something that is fragile.

French

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin fragilis. Doublet of frêle.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fʁa.ʒil/

• Audio (Paris):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

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• Audio (France (Hérault)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Saint-Étienne)):

  (file)

• Homophone: fragiles

Adjective

fragile (plural fragiles)

1. fragile, breakable, brittle, delicate (that breaks easily)

   saule fragile ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

2. (by extension) frail

   une santé fragile ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

3. (figuratively) fragile, precarious, uncertain

   un équilibre fragile ― a fragile balance

   une paix fragile ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

Derived terms

• fragilement
• fragiliser
• fragilité

Related terms

• fracture

Descendants

• Mauritian Creole: frazil

Noun

fragile m or f (plural fragiles)

1. (informal, derogatory) sensitive person, weak person

   C'est un fragile. ― He's a snowflake.

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• giflera

German

Pronunciation

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (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

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin fragilem.

Pronunciation

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

Adjective

fragile m or f by sense (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

Latin

Adjective

fragile

1. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular of fragilis