fracture

Meanings

Noun

• An instance of breaking, a place where something has broken.
• A break in bone or cartilage.
• A fault or crack in a rock.

Verb

• To break, or cause something to break.
• To amuse (a person) greatly; to split someone's sides.

Origin

• From Middle English fracture, from Old French fracture, from Latin fractūra ("a breach, fracture, cleft"), from frango, past participle fractus, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg-, from whence also English break. See fraction. fraktur.