Frangible

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Dr. Goodword
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Frangible

Postby Dr. Goodword » Sat Jun 02, 2007 11:39 pm

• frangible •

Pronunciation: fræn-jê-bêl • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Adjective

Meaning: Breakable, capable of being broken.

Notes: Frangible objects are breakable though not necessarily fragile, which implies delicacy and fineness. The difference between breakable and frangible is one of context: ordinary things tend to be breakable (breakable toys) while museum pieces tend to be frangible. The noun for this word is frangibility. Anything that is unbreakable is infrangible.

In Play: It always helps in avoiding chores to impress your parents with your vocabulary. Try this sometime: "Dad, I said I'd clean the garage if I had time Saturday; I didn't sign an infrangible contract." I would have happily cleaned the garage in exchange for knowing that my teenage son had mastered infrangible. However, today's Good Word is not just for joking; it can be used sternly, too: "Lionel, be careful; that vase is sturdy but still quite frangible."

Word History: Today's Good Word first appeared in 1391, a borrowing from Latin frangibilis "breakable" from frangere "to break". The root of this word is a piece of PIE: bhre(n)g- "break" with our old friend, the Fickle N, which comes and goes as it pleases. It doesn't show up in English break or Lithuanian brasketi "crash, crack". Fickle N came and went in Latin, for the past participle of frangere is fractus, the origin of English fraction. (Initial PIE [bh] became [f] in Latin; compare English burn with Latin borrowing furnace.) Sassafras, whose root provides the flavor of root beer, comes from the same root (word root, that is). Sassafras is a reduction of Latin saxifragus "rock-breaking", a name it earned from its ability to grow in the cracks of rocks. (Rather than break our tradition of recognizing those who suggest our Good Words, let's thank Chris Berry for sending in this one.)
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gailr
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Postby gailr » Sun Jun 03, 2007 5:29 am

I thought frangible sounded familiar...

Have you stood and unfolded yourself, skinem, or have you gone uncredited?

dougsmit
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fragile

Postby dougsmit » Sun Jun 03, 2007 8:45 am

Is there more to the story on how fragile lost the 'n' and occupied the related but sufficiently different meaning that it received comment in the first paragraph?
Doug Smith

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Postby skinem » Mon Jun 04, 2007 10:56 am

Have you stood and unfolded yourself, skinem, or have you gone uncredited?
That be me... :oops:

George Kovac

Re: FRANGIBLE

Postby George Kovac » Thu Aug 06, 2015 12:57 pm

I have said many times that the best “Good Words” are those which suggest possible usages outside of their primary concrete meaning—words which carry with them opportunities for abstraction or metaphor. “Frangible” is such a word.

I encountered this arresting use of the word in a book of essays I found last week in a used book store in San Francisco. The late Seamus Heaney, writing about the work of fellow Irish poet Patrick Kavanagh, had this observation (which I think applies as much to Heaney’s own work as it does to Kavanagh’s): “We might say that lyric celebration was to Kavanagh what witty expression was to Oscar Wilde—in the beginning a matter of temperament, a habit of style, a disposition of the artist’s fundamental nature, but, in the end, a matter of redemptive force, a resource that maintained the artist’s inner freedom in the face of worldly disappointments, an infrangible dignity." Seamus Heaney, The Government of the Tongue, Selected Prose 1978-1987, page 12.

John Updike also deployed the word’s metaphoric vigor: “Though his faith is intact and as infrangible as metal, it is also like metal dead.” John Updike “The Centaur”

Perry Lassiter
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Re: Frangible

Postby Perry Lassiter » Tue Aug 11, 2015 3:39 pm

You were on a roll that day, Mr Kovac, obviously inspired. By yr visit to Frisco.
pl

George Kovac

Re: Frangible

Postby George Kovac » Tue Aug 11, 2015 4:03 pm

Thanks, Perry.
One of the rare treasures of travel is to find a good old fashioned book store. I found one by accident in a San Francisco neighborhood last week, and in June discovered that downtown Milwaukee has a good used book store, too (where I bought a book of poetry by Richard Blanco--who grew up in Miami--and whose fine poetry I hope will receive more attention.) I am not talking about rare books, or junk stores, just an old store with shelves lined with discarded books in good condition (mostly paperback) arranged in categories as the proprietor sees fit. The signs are always hand labelled with penmanship and categories that reflect the nature of the shopkeeper. There is usually a cat or two in residence, and the owner and his friends calmly preside over the place and offer advice and encouragement. The hours are irregular, and usually late into the evening.

I never fail to find and share a few good words during those visits.

The economics of these establishments are so marginal (and irrelevant), so I am hopeful that this kind of neighborhood used book store will survive long into to the era where all shopping is done on line or in homogeneous stores. That is not what these establishments are about. They are about the words, and the bonds that words create.

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Re: Frangible

Postby Perry Lassiter » Tue Aug 18, 2015 4:44 pm

I am reqding Kindle books more lately, but they will never replace the joy of wandering through the library or bookstore to browse the shelves randomly for whatever catches your eye.
pl


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