frail

== English == === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /fɹeɪl/ Rhymes: -eɪl === Etymology 1 === From Middle English frele, fraill, from Old French fraile, from Latin fragilis. Cognate to fraction, fracture, and doublet of fragile. ==== Adjective ==== frail (comparative frailer, superlative frailest) Easily broken physically; not firm or durable; liable to fail and perish. Weak; infirm. (medicine) In an infirm state leading one to be easily subject to disease or other health problems, especially regarding the elderly. Mentally fragile. Liable to fall from virtue or be led into sin; not strong against temptation; weak in resolution; unchaste. ===== Derived terms ===== ===== Related terms ===== ===== Translations ===== ==== Noun ==== frail (plural frails) (dated, slang) A girl. ==== Verb ==== frail (third-person singular simple present frails, present participle frailing, simple past and past participle frailed) To play a stringed instrument, usually a banjo, by picking with the back of a fingernail. === Etymology 2 === From Middle English frayel, from Old French frael, fraiel, of unknown origin; possibly a dissimilatory variant of flael, flaiel (“flail”). ==== Noun ==== frail (plural frails) A basket made of rushes, used chiefly to hold figs and raisins. The quantity of fruit or other items contained in a frail. A rush for weaving baskets. === Etymology 3 === (This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.) ==== Noun ==== frail (plural frails) Synonym of farasola (“old unit of weight”). ==== References ==== Henry Yule; A[rthur] C[oke] Burnell (1903), “frail”, in William Crooke, editor, Hobson-Jobson […] , London: John Murray, […]. === Etymology 4 === ==== Noun ==== frail (plural frails) (England, dialectal, obsolete) Synonym of flail. ==== References ==== “frail”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC. === Anagrams === filar, flair