Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “fragility” come from?

Fragility comes from Middle French fragilité, from Latin fragilitas, from Proto-Italic fragelitāts, ultimately derived from a root meaning easily broken or liable to break.

fragility (English): The condition or quality of being fragile;...

Definitions

  1. The condition or quality of being fragile;...

Ancestry of “fragility”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Frenchfragilité—
2Latinfragilitasbrittleness, fragility; weakness, frailness
3Latin-tās—
4Proto-Indo-European-teh₂tsUsed to form nouns representing state of being
5Proto-Indo-European-teh₂Used to form nouns representing state of being
6Proto-Indo-European-tósCreates verbal adjectives from verb stems

Words derived from “fragility”

  • antifragility
  • infragility
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -tós →