Etymology

brittle

brit·tle
B3R1I1T1T1L1E1

Today it means: Inflexible; liable to break, snap, or shatter easily under stress, pressure, or impact. Full definition →

Middle English britel ← Old English *brytel
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brittle · adjective, noun, verb1

  1. Old English · inherited from*brytel
  2. Middle English · inherited frombritel
  3. English todaybrittle

From Middle English britel, brutel, brotel (“brittle”), from Old English *brytel, *bryttol (“brittle, fragile”, literally “prone to or tending to break”); equivalent to brit + -le.

Brittle · proper noun2

From a diminutive form of Brett.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.