Brittle comes from Middle English britel, britil, related to Old English breotan ('to break to pieces'), from Proto-Germanic *breutaną ('to break'). The historical trail runs through breotan in Old English and *breutaną in Proto-Germanic. Used as an adjective and noun, brittle now means "hard but easily broken; also a hard sugary candy", so the present definition can be read against the older forms and meanings. The same lexical family is also visible in derived forms such as brittly and brittleness. The word is therefore part of the inherited Germanic layer of English, even where later usage has narrowed, broadened, or specialized the sense.