frail (adj.)

mid-14c., "morally weak," from Old French fraile, frele "weak, frail, sickly, infirm" (12c., Modern French frêle), from Latin fragilis "easily broken" (from PIE root *bhreg- "to break"). It is the Frenchified form of fragile. Sense of "easily destroyed, liable to break" in English is from late 14c. The U.S. slang noun meaning "a woman" is attested from 1908; perhaps with awareness of Shakespeare's "Frailty, thy name is woman."

also from mid-14c.

Entries linking to frail

fragile (adj.)

1510s, "liable to sin, morally weak;" c. 1600, "liable to break;" a back-formation from fragility, or else from French fragile (Old French fragele, 14c.), from Latin fragilis "easily broken," from root of frangere "to break" (from PIE root *bhreg- "to break"). Transferred sense of "of frail constitution" (of persons) is from 1858.

*bhreg-

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to break."

It forms all or part of: anfractuous; Brabant; bracken; brake (n.1) "stopping device for a wheel;" brake (n.2) "kind of fern;" brash; breach; break; breccia; breeches; brioche; chamfer; defray; diffraction; fractal; fraction; fractious; fracture; fragile; fragility; fragment; frail; frangible; infraction; infringe; irrefragable; irrefrangible; naufragous; ossifrage; refract; refraction; refrain (n.); refrangible; sassafras; saxifrage; suffragan; suffrage.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit (giri)-bhraj "breaking-forth (out of the mountains);" Latin frangere "to break (something) in pieces, shatter, fracture;" Lithuanian braškėti "crash, crack;" Old Irish braigim "break wind;" Gothic brikan, Old English brecan "to break."

Trends of frail

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/. Ngrams are probably unreliable.

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robust

1540s, of persons, "having or indicating great strength, muscular, vigorous," from French robuste (14c.) and directly from Latin robustus "strong and hardy," literally "as strong as oak," originally "oaken," from robur, robus "hard timber, strength," also "a special kind of oak,"

delicate

late 14c., of persons, "self-indulgent, loving ease;" also "sensitive, easily hurt, feeble;" of things, "delightful," from Latin delicatus "alluring, delightful, dainty," also "addicted to pleasure, luxurious, effeminate," in Medieval Latin "fine, slender;" related to deliciae "p

imperfect

late 14c., imparfit, "sinful, immoral; not properly formed, not complete, immature; rudimentary, elementary," from Old French imparfait, from Latin imperfectus "unfinished, incomplete, immature," from assimilated form of in- "not, opposite of" (see in- (1)) + perfectus "finished,

infirm

late 14c., "weak, unsound" (of things), from Latin infirmus "weak, frail, feeble, not strong or firm" (figuratively "superstitious...

thrush

An aged thrush, frail, gaunt, and small, In blast-beruffled plume, Had chosen thus...

basket

"vessel made of thin strips of wood, or other flexible materials, interwoven in a great variety of forms, and used for many purpose," early 13c., from Anglo-French bascat; a word of obscure origin despite much speculation. On one theory, it is from Latin bascauda "kettle, table-v

wake

"to become awake," a Middle English merger of Old English wacan "to become awake, arise, be born, originate," and Old English wacian "to be or remain awake," both from Proto-Germanic *wakjanan (source also of Old Saxon wakon, Old Norse vaka, Danish vaage, Old Frisian waka, Dutch

weight

Old English gewiht "weighing, weight, downward force of a body, heaviness," from Proto-Germanic *wihti- (source also of Old Norse vætt, Danish vegt, Old Frisian wicht, Middle Dutch gewicht, German Gewicht), from *weg- (see weigh). Figurative sense of "burden" is late 14c. To lose

stride

Middle English striden, from Old English stridan (past tense strad, past participle striden), "to straddle, mount" (a horse), from Proto-Germanic *stridanan (source also of Middle Low German strede "stride, strive;" Old Saxon stridian, Danish stride, Swedish strida "to fight," Du

nervous

late 14c., "containing nerves; affecting the sinews" (the latter sense now obsolete); from Latin nervosus "sinewy, vigorous," from nervus "sinew, nerve" (see nerve (n.)). The meaning "of or belonging to the nerves" in the modern anatomical sense is from 1660s. From 1630s it was u

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updated on September 28, 2017

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