frangible
English
editEtymology
editFrom Late Middle English frangible, frangibil,[1] from Middle French frangible, or from Medieval Latin frangibilis, from Latin frangere[2] (from frangō (“to break, shatter”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg- (“to break”)) -ibilis (suffix forming adjectives indicating a capacity or worth of being acted upon).
Pronunciation
edit- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈfɹæn(d)ʒɪb(ə)l/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈfɹænd͡ʒəbəl/
- Rhymes: -ændʒɪbəl
- Hyphenation: fran‧gi‧ble
Adjective
editfrangible (comparative more frangible, superlative most frangible)
- Able to be broken; breakable, fragile. [from early 15th c.]
- 1734, “GLASS”, in The Builder’s Dictionary: Or, Gentlemen and Architect’s Companion. Explaining not only the Term of Art in All the Several Parts of Architecture, but also Containing the Theory and Practice of the Various Branches thereof, [...] In Two Volumes, volume I, London: Printed for A[rthur] Bettesworth and C[harles] Hitch, at the Red-Lion in Pater-noster-Row; and S[tephen] Austen, at the Angel and Bible in St. Paul's Church-Yard, →OCLC, column 1:
- A certain learned and curious Author gives us the following Characters or Properties of Glaſs, whereby it is diſtinguiſh'd from all other Bodies, viz. […] That it is frangible when thin, without annealing.
- 1838, W[illiam] W[illiams] Mather, “Iron Ore”, in First Annual Report on the Geological Survey of the State of Ohio, Columbus, Oh.: Samuel Medary, printer to the State, →OCLC, footnote, page 7:
- Another object still [of roasting iron ore], is to make the ore more frangible, that it may be easily broken into fragments of a suitable size for smelting.
- 1989, Charles Panati, “From Superstition”, in Panati’s Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things (Perennial Library), New York, N.Y.: Harper & Row, →ISBN, page 16:
- Folklorists claim that the superstitious belief that opening an umbrella indoors augurs misfortune has a more recent and utilitarian origin. In eighteenth-century London, when metal-spoked waterproof umbrellas began to become a common rainy-day sight, their stiff, clumsy spring mechanism made them veritable hazards to open indoors. A rigidly spoked umbrella, opening suddely in a small room, could seriously injure an adult or a child, or shatter a frangible object.
- 1998 March, Richard Marcinko, John Weisman, “Part Two: Trust but Verify”, in Destination Gold (Rogue Warrior), New York, N.Y.: Pocket Books, →ISBN, page 183:
- So, to make sure that I stay both current and deadly, I built the range, where the guys can sharpen their lethal talents, and—careful always to use only approved military weapons—I can sharpen mine. Shooting, after all, is a frangible skill. At SEAL Team Six we shot daily.
Usage notes
editThe word is often used to refer to objects which are made intentionally breakable, either as part of their operation (such as frangible bullets and frangible nuts), or for use in an emergency (such as frangible light poles or smoke outlet panels).
Synonyms
edit- fragmentable (not idiomatically interchangeable although denotatively equal)
Antonyms
edit- infrangible, indestructible, nonbrittle, unbreakable, unfragile
- unfrangible (obsolete)
Derived terms
editRelated terms
editTranslations
editNoun
editfrangible (plural frangibles)
- Something that is breakable or fragile; especially something that is intentionally made so, such as a bullet.
- 2009, Robert K. Campbell, “Practice Tools”, in Dan Shideler, editor, The Gun Digest Book of Personal Protection & Home Defense, Iola, Wis.: Gun Digest Books, →ISBN, page 201, column 2:
- For extreme close range training, frangible bullets – those that disintegrate on hitting a hard target – are available. I have found the Winchester frangible loads especially suitable to high-volume training with the 9mm pistol. Frangibles are intended to give peace officers real safety when training at close range with steel reaction targets and vehicles used as range props.
- 2012, G. Paul Chambers, Head Shot: The Science behind the JFK Assassination, expanded edition, Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, →ISBN:
- Is there some law of nature that states that an assassin can only use one kind of ammunition? Couldn't he just as easily load a frangible bullet and a nonfrangible one into his magazine as two frangibles or two regular, hardened rounds?
- 2013, Robert E. Walker, “Ammunition Cartridges”, in Cartridges and Firearm Identification (Advances in Materials Science and Engineering), Boca Raton, Fla.: CRC Press, →ISBN, page 82:
- Like other lethal-use frangibles, it is designed exclusively for use against soft targets. The "projectile" is composed of tungsten powder encapsulated by a traditional copper jacket. The powdered medium itself does not comprise a solid-mass projectile, per se, but it is tightly packed and contained within the jacket, which acts as the container. Like all frangible projectiles, these projectiles return to powder when impacting an object.
References
edit- ^ “franǧī̆ble, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 7 November 2017.
- ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “frangible”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
Further reading
edit- frangibility on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
Catalan
editEtymology
editBorrowed from Latin frangibilis.
Pronunciation
editAdjective
editfrangible m or f (masculine and feminine plural frangibles)
- frangible, breakable
- Synonym: trencable
- Antonym: infrangible
Derived terms
editRelated terms
editFurther reading
edit- “frangible” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
French
editPronunciation
editAdjective
editfrangible (plural frangibles)
- frangible, breakable
- Synonyms: cassable, brisable
- Antonym: infrangible
Derived terms
editRelated terms
editFurther reading
edit- “frangible”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Middle English
editEtymology
editFrom Middle French frangible, or from Medieval Latin frangibilis,[1] from Latin frangere,[2] from frangō (“to break, shatter”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg- (“to break”).
Pronunciation
editNoun
editfranǧī̆ble
Alternative forms
editReferences
edit- ^ “franǧī̆ble, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 7 November 2017.
- ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “frangible”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
Middle French
editAdjective
editfrangible m or f (plural frangibles)
Spanish
editEtymology
editBorrowed from Medieval Latin frangibilis.
Pronunciation
editAdjective
editfrangible m or f (masculine and feminine plural frangibles)
- frangible, breakable
- Synonym: rompible
- Antonym: infrangible
Related terms
editFurther reading
edit- “frangible”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle French
- English terms derived from Medieval Latin
- English terms derived from Latin
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/ændʒɪbəl
- Rhymes:English/ændʒɪbəl/3 syllables
- English lemmas
- English adjectives
- English terms with quotations
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms suffixed with -ible
- Catalan terms borrowed from Latin
- Catalan terms derived from Latin
- Catalan terms with IPA pronunciation
- Catalan lemmas
- Catalan adjectives
- Catalan epicene adjectives
- French 2-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French lemmas
- French adjectives
- Middle English terms derived from Middle French
- Middle English terms derived from Medieval Latin
- Middle English terms derived from Latin
- Middle English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- Middle English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Middle English lemmas
- Middle English adjectives
- Middle French lemmas
- Middle French adjectives
- Spanish terms borrowed from Medieval Latin
- Spanish terms derived from Medieval Latin
- Spanish 3-syllable words
- Spanish terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Spanish/ible
- Rhymes:Spanish/ible/3 syllables
- Spanish lemmas
- Spanish adjectives
- Spanish epicene adjectives