different between fragile vs porcelain

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French fragile, from Latin fragilis, formed on frag-, the root of frangere (“to break”). Cognate fraction, fracture and doublet of frail.

Pronunciation

• (UK, General Australian, Canada) IPA^(key): /?f?æd?a?l/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?f?æd??l/
• Rhymes: -æd??l

Adjective

fragile (comparative fragiler or more fragile, superlative fragilest or most fragile)

1. Easily broken or destroyed, and thus often of subtle or intricate structure.

   The chemist synthesizes a fragile molecule.

   The UN tries to maintain the fragile peace process in the region.

   He is a very fragile person and gets easily depressed.

2. (Britain) Feeling weak or easily disturbed as a result of illness.

Synonyms

• friable
• breakly
• breakable
• destroyable
• destructible
• See also Thesaurus:fragile

Antonyms

• durable
• unbreakable
• undestroyable
• indestructible
• antifragile

Derived terms

• fragilely

Related terms

• fractal
• fraction
• fractional
• fracture
• fragility
• frail
• frailty
• frangible

Translations

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin fragilis. Doublet of frêle.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /f?a.?il/
• Homophone: fragiles

Adjective

fragile (plural fragiles)

1. fragile

Related terms

• fragiliser
• fragilité

Further reading

• “fragile” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• giflera

German

Adjective

fragile

1. inflection of fragil:
   1. strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
   2. strong nominative/accusative plural
   3. weak nominative all-gender singular
   4. weak accusative feminine/neuter singular

Italian

Etymology

From Latin fragilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?fra.d??i.le/
• Hyphenation: frà?gi?le

Adjective

fragile (plural fragili)

1. fragile

Derived terms

• fragilmente
• infragilire

Related terms

• frale
• fragilità

Further reading

• fragile in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Latin

Adjective

fragile

1. nominative neuter singular of fragilis
2. accusative neuter singular of fragilis
3. vocative neuter singular of fragilis

English

Etymology

From Middle French porcelaine (“cowrie, wampum; china, chinaware”), from Old Italian porcellana (“cowrie; china, chinaware”), from porcella (“mussel or cockle shell used to hold pigments while painting”) from porco (“pig”) with -ella (suffix forming diminutives).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?p??s?l?n/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?p??s?l?n/, /?p??sl?n/
• (General New Zealand) IPA^(key): /?po?sl?n/
• Hyphenation: por?ce?lain, porc?lain

Noun

porcelain (countable and uncountable, plural porcelains)

1. (usually uncountable) A hard white translucent ceramic, originally made by firing kaolin, quartz, and feldspar at high temperatures but now also inclusive of similar artificial materials; also often (figuratively) such a material as a symbol of the fragility, elegance, etc. traditionally associated with porcelain goods.
2. (usually uncountable) Synonym of china: porcelain tableware.
   • c. 1530, letter in Original Letters Illustrative of English History, Vol. II, p. 242:

     iij. potts of Erthe payntid, callyd Porseland.

3. (uncountable, obsolete) Synonym of kaolin: the kind of clay traditionally used in China to manufacture porcelain.
   • 1599, Richard Hakluyt translating E. de Sande in The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques, and Discoveries of the English Nation, 2nd ed., Vol. II, p. 91:

     [...] that earthen or pliable matter commonly called porcellan, which is pure white,... wherof vessels of all kinds are very curiously framed...

4. (countable, now usually in the plural) An object made of porcelain, (particularly) art objects or items of tableware.

5. (countable, rare) Synonym of cowrie.
   • 1601, Robert Johnson translating Giovanni Botero as The Trauellers Breuiat, or, An Historicall Description of the Most Famous Kingdomes in the World, p. 104:

     In the kingdomes of Caiacan and Carazan, certaine sea shels are currant, which some men terme Porcelline.

6. (countable, obsolete or historical) Synonym of wampum: strings of shells, beads, etc. used as ornamentation or currency; the composite shells, beads, etc.
   • c. 1665, Pierre Esprit de Radisson, Voyages (1885 ed.), p. 49:

     We mett severall gangs of men to our greatest disadvantage, ffor we weare forced to sing, and those that came to see us gave porcelaine to those that most did us injury.

7. (countable, often capitalized) A kind of pigeon with deep brown and off-white feathers.
   • 1855, The Poultry Chronicle, No. 3, p. 9:

     Those pretty spangled Toys [...] known by various names, as Porcelains, Hyacinths, Ermines, &c.

Hypernyms

• material ceramic, earthenware

Hyponyms

• hard-paste, soft-paste / softpaste

Synonyms

• (all senses): china
• (porcelain tableware): chinaware

Derived terms

Translations

References

• “porcelain, n. and adj.”, in OED Online ?, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 2006
• “porcelain”, in Merriam–Webster Online Dictionary, (Please provide a date or year).
• Krueger, Dennis (December 1982). "Why On Earth Do They Call It Throwing?" Studio Potter, Vol. 11, Number 1.

Further reading

• porcelain on Wikipedia.Wikipedia