Etymograph

English

frail

Frail comes from Old French fraile ‘fragile’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg- ‘to break’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰreg-‘to break’root as named
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*fragelisreconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfragilis‘fragile, brittle, easily broken, breakable’
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400fraile‘fragile’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500frele
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1587–1588frail

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰreg-‘to break’root as named
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*fragelisreconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfragilis‘fragile, brittle, easily broken, breakable’
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400fraile‘fragile’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500frele
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1587–1588frail

Earliest quotation: c. 1587–1588, Christopher Marlowe, Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […]: “Returne with ſpeed, time paſſeth ſwift away, Our life…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg- ‘to break’

break, broken, broke, brigade, brake, bracket, fraction, fracture, fragment, bray, suffrage, fret, breech, refrain, infringe, brogan, refractory, fractal, brogue, 38 more

through Latin fragilis ‘fragile, brittle, easily broken, breakable’

fragile, fragility, 1 more

Another origin of frail

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰleh₂-‘to swing back and forth’uncertain
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEflagrum‘scourge, whip’uncertain
  3. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEflagellum‘whip, lash, scourge’uncertain
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400flaiel‘flail’uncertain
  5. Old French, derivedc. 842–1400frael
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500frayel‘a rushen basket for picking dried fruit’
  7. Englishtodayfrail

Today it means

adj Easily broken physically; not firm or durable; liable to fail and perish.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg- / frail

Shirt and support for this word