brittleness

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈbrɪtəlnəs/ UK /ˈbrɪtəlnəs/ See IPA manual

noun

Meanings

1

noun
the quality of being hard yet liable to break or shatter

Cold weather increased the brittleness of the metal beams.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · the quality of being hard... fragility frailtyfriabilitydelicacy

Opposites

toughness resilience durability flexibility

Word family

Related forms brittlebrittly

Etymology

From brittle (Middle English britel, related to Old English breotan, 'to break in pieces') + the noun-forming suffix -ness.

breotan Old English

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

# brittleness

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** ˈbrɪtəlnəs
**IPA (UK):** ˈbrɪtəlnəs

## Meanings
1. the quality of being hard yet liable to break or shatter

## Examples
- Cold weather increased the brittleness of the metal beams.

## Synonyms
- fragility
- frailty
- friability
- delicacy

## Antonyms
- toughness
- resilience
- durability
- flexibility

## Related Forms
- brittle
- brittly

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: breotan

## Etymology
From brittle (Middle English britel, related to Old English breotan, 'to break in pieces') + the noun-forming suffix -ness.

## AI Etymology
Brittleness comes from brittle (Middle English britel, related to Old English breotan, 'to break in pieces') + the noun-forming suffix -ness. The historical trail runs through breotan in Old English. Morphologically, brittleness is transparent: it draws on brittle (Middle English britel, related to Old English breotan, 'to break in pieces') + the noun-forming suffix -ness. Used as a noun, brittleness now means "the quality of being hard yet liable to break or shatter", so the present definition can be read against the older forms and meanings. The same lexical family is also visible in related forms such as brittle and brittly. The modern word remains analyzable through its parts, which makes the semantic connection unusually direct.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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brittleness

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