Frailte

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An archaic spelling of frailty, meaning the condition of being weak, delicate or easily broken
2. Obsolete form of frailty describing a state of weakness, fragility or vulnerability to harm
3. Older word for the quality of being feeble, fragile or prone to failure in body or character

Etymology: Before "frailty" settled into its modern spelling, English writers spelled it "frailte," and the word had already travelled a long road. It came into Middle English from Anglo-Norman and Old French "fraileté," which was built from Latin "fragilitas," meaning brittleness or breakability. The same Latin root gave English "fragile," which entered later and kept closer to the original physical sense. The two words are doublets, meaning they descend from one Latin source by different routes. "Frail" and "frailty" came through French and were absorbed into everyday English, while "fragile" was borrowed more directly from Latin in a later, more learned wave. Medieval writers used "frailte" mostly for human weakness, both bodily and moral, so a person's susceptibility to sin or temptation could be called a frailty.