brittle
brit·tle/ˈbɹɪtəl/adjective, noun, verb
brittle is spelled B-R-I-T-T-L-E: 7 letters and 2 syllables (brit·tle). It appears 1.9 times per million words in written English, the 20,101st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, brittle means “Inflexible; liable to break, snap, or shatter easily under stress, pressure, or impact” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in brittle?
| Letters | 7: B-R-I-T-T-L-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: brit·tle |
| In writing | 1.9 times per million words; the 20,101st most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is brittle?
Brittle appears 1.9 times per million words in written English, the 20,101st most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce brittle?
- /ˈbɹɪtəl/
- [ˈbɹʷɪtʰəl] ~ [ˈbɹʷɪtʰl̩]
Brittle has 2 syllables, split brit·tle in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-brittle.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of brittle
- brittler comparative
- more brittle comparative
- brittlest superlative
- most brittle superlative
- brittles plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- brittling participle, present
- brittled participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does brittle mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Inflexible; liable to break, snap, or shatter easily under stress, pressure, or impact.
Near-synonyms: crackly, (technical) brash
- 2
Not physically tough or tenacious; apt to break or crumble when bending.
Shortbread is my favorite cold pastry, yet being so brittle it crumbles easily, and a lot goes to waste.
- 3
Tending to fracture in a conchoidal way; capable of being knapped or flaked.
- 4
Emotionally fragile, easily offended.
What a brittle person! A little misunderstanding and he's an emotional wreck.
- 5
Poorly error- or fault-tolerant; having little in the way of redundancy or defense in depth; susceptible to catastrophic failure in the event of a relatively-minor malfunction or deviance.
- 6
informalproscribedCharacterized by dramatic swings in blood sugar level.
noun
- 1
A confection of caramelized sugar and nuts.
As a child, my favorite candy was peanut brittle.
- 2
Anything resembling this confection, such as flapjack, a cereal bar, etc.
verb
- 1
To become brittle.
- 2
obsoleteTo gut.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Brittle in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | fragile , cassant , nougatine |
| German | spröde, brüchig, bröckelig, mürbe, morsch, fragil |
| Portuguese | frágil, quebradiço |
| Spanish | frágil, quebradizo, friable, vidrioso , crocante |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does brittle come from?
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.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).