Etymology

frail

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Today it means: Easily broken physically; not firm or durable; liable to fail and perish. Full definition →

Middle English frele ← Old French fraile ← Latin fragilis
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frail · adjective, noun, verb1

  1. Latin · derived fromfragilis
  2. Old French · derived fromfraile
  3. Middle English · inherited fromfrele
  4. English todayfrail

From Middle English frele, fraill, from Old French fraile, from Latin fragilis. Cognate to fraction, fracture, and doublet of fragile.

frail · noun2

  1. Old French · derived fromfrael
  2. Middle English · inherited fromfrayel
  3. English todayfrail

From Middle English frayel, from Old French frael, fraiel, of unknown origin; possibly a dissimilatory variant of flael, flaiel (“flail”).

Words from the same roots

Latinfragilis all →

fragile

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.