English
fragile
Fragile comes from Latin fragilis ‘fragile, brittle, easily broken, breakable’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg-.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰreg-1‘to break’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfrangō2as frangere, root‘to break’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfragilis2‘fragile, brittle, easily broken, breakable’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600fragile2
- Englishtodayfragile2
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Latin frango
- 2 Wiktionary, English fragile
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰreg-Wiktionary, Latin frango‘to break’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfrangōWiktionary, English fragileas frangere, root‘to break’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfragilisWiktionary, English fragile‘fragile, brittle, easily broken, breakable’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600fragileWiktionary, English fragile
- EnglishtodayfragileWiktionary, English fragile
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg- ‘to break’
break, broken, broke, brigade, brake, bracket, fraction, bray, breech, suffrage, brogan, brogue, 35 more
through Latin frangō ‘to break’
fracture, refrain, fret, fragment, infringe, diffraction, infraction, fractal, refractory, refraction, 16 more
through Latin fragilis ‘fragile, brittle, easily broken, breakable’
Today it means
adj Easily broken, not sturdy; of delicate material.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “fragile”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin frango. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg- / fragile