English Word Reference Free

fragility

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

Letters

9 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

Wiktionary

open dictionary

Access

Free

no sign-up needed

Detailed reference entry for the English word "fragility", 9-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "fragility" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "fragility" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

fragility is aEnglishnoun. It means: The condition or quality of being fragile; brittleness; frangibility. Pronounced /fɹəˈd͡ʒɪlɪti/. Often confused with frailty and facility.

Key facts for fragility
PropertyValue
Headwordfragility
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/fɹəˈd͡ʒɪlɪti/
Letters9
Frequency rank#29,662
Misspellings tracked14
Confusable pairs2
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of fragility in English word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for fragility is 9 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /fɹəˈd͡ʒɪlɪti/. Corpus data places it at rank #29,662 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 14 documented wrong-spelling variants for fragility, with forms such as "fargility", "ffragility", and "fraggility". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 2 confusable-pair relationships, "frailty", "facility", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Middle French fragilité, from Latin fragilitās. Doublet of frailty. Morphologically fragile + -ity. Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is fragility, spelled F-R-A-G-I-L-I-T-Y, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    The condition or quality of being fragile; brittleness; frangibility.
  2. 2
    Weakness; feebleness.
  3. 3
    Liability to error and sin; frailty.

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French fragilité, from Latin fragilitās. Doublet of frailty. Morphologically fragile + -ity.

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: fargility,ffragility,fraggility,fragiilty,fragilitty,fragilityy,fragiliyt,fragillity,fragiltiy,fragliity,fraiglity,frgaility,frragility,rfagility

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for fragility

Misspelling Variants of "fragility"

fargility9ffragility10fraggility10fragiilty9fragilitty10fragilityy10fragiliyt9fragillity10
Misspelling Variants of "fragility"

Frequency rank: #29,662 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "fragility"?
"fragility" is spelled F-R-A-G-I-L-I-T-Y. The IPA pronunciation is /fɹəˈd͡ʒɪlɪti/.
What does "fragility" mean?
As a noun, "fragility" means: The condition or quality of being fragile; brittleness; frangibility.
What words are commonly confused with "fragility"?
"fragility" is commonly confused with "frailty", "facility". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "fragility"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "fragility" is /fɹəˈd͡ʒɪlɪti/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "fragility"?
Borrowed from Middle French fragilité, from Latin fragilitās. Doublet of frailty. Morphologically fragile + -ity. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter F in our English index:

Explore PlainSpell

Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.