brittle: [14] Brittle probably comes from a Germanic stem *brut- ‘break’, which had several descendants in Old English (including the verbs brēotan and gebryttan ‘break’) that did not survive the Norman Conquest. It came in a more than usual profusion of spellings in Middle English (bretil, brutil, etc), not all of which may be the same word; brottle, for instance, current from the 14th to the 16th century, may well have come from the aforementioned Old English brēotan. There is also the synonymous brickle [15], which survived dialectally into the 20th century; this is related ultimately to break.
brittle (adj.)
late 14c., britel, perhaps from an unrecorded Old English adjective *brytel, related to brytan "to crush, pound, to break to pieces," from Proto-Germanic stem *brutila- "brittle," from *breutan "to break up" (cognates: Old Norse brjota "to break," Old High German brodi "fragile"), from PIE *bhreu- "to cut, break up" (see bruise (v.)). With -le, suffix forming adjectives with meaning "liable to."
雙語例句
1. This may help to undermine the brittle truce that currently exists.
這也許會火上澆油，破壞當前脆弱不穩的休戰局面。
來自柯林斯例句
2. The pizza base retains its crispness without becoming brittle.
比薩餅的餅底依然酥脆，也沒有變得易碎。
來自柯林斯例句
3. These incidents suggest the peace in Northern Ireland is still brittle.
這些事件表明北愛爾蘭的和平仍然很脆弱。
來自柯林斯例句
4. Myrtle gave a brittle laugh.
默特爾冷笑了一聲。
來自柯林斯例句
5. The pond was covered in a brittle layer of ice.