fracture

See also: fracturé

English

Fracture of an aluminum crank arm of a bicycle, where Bright= brittle fracture, Dark= fatigue fracture.

Compare healthy bone with different types of fractures:
   (a) closed fracture
   (b) open fracture
   (c) transverse fracture
   (d) spiral fracture
   (e) comminuted fracture
   (f) impacted fracture
   (g) greenstick fracture
   (h) oblique fracture

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg-

Proto-Indo-European *-né-

Latin frangō

Latin frāctūrus

Latin frāctūrader.

Old French fracturebor.

Middle English fracture

English fracture

From Middle English fracture, from Old French fracture, from Latin frāctūra (“a breach, fracture, cleft”), from frangere (“to break”), past participle frāctus, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg-, whence also English break. See fraction. Doublet of fraktur.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, Australia) IPA^(key): /ˈfɹæk.t͡ʃʰəː/, [ˈfɹʷæk.t͡ʃʰəː]
• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈfɹæk.t͡ʃɚ/, [ˈfɹʷæk.t͡ʃʰɚ] ~ [ˈfɹʷæk.t͡ʃʰɹ̩]

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (obsolete) IPA^(key): /ˈfɹæk.tjəɹ/, [ˈfɹʷæk.tʰjəɹ]
• Rhymes: -ækt͡ʃə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: frac‧ture

Noun

fracture (plural fractures)

1. An instance of breaking, a place where something has broken.
   • 2026 March 18, Greg Morse, “1996 crash driving freight reforms”, in RAIL, number 1057, page 51:

     Hall found the immediate cause at Rickerscote to have been the complete fracture of an axle on STS 53241, the freight train's ninth wagon. The fracture had been caused by fatigue initiated by corrosion pitting on the axle surface.

3. (medicine) A break in bone or cartilage.
4. (geology) A fault or crack in a rock.

Derived terms

• antifracture
• Bennett fracture, Bennett's fracture
• boxer's fracture
• brittle fracture
• chalkstick fracture
• Colles' fracture
• complicated fracture
• compound fracture
• compression fracture
• cryofracture
• Don Juan fracture
• ductile fracture
• Dupuytren's fracture
• fractural
• fracture mechanics
• fracture plane
• fractureproof
• Galeazzi fracture
• greenstick fracture
• hairline fracture
• hangman's fracture
• hip fracture
• Holstein-Lewis fracture
• hydrofracture
• incomplete fracture
• Jones fracture
• Lisfranc fracture
• macrofracture
• Maisonneuve fracture
• microfracture
• mono-fracture
• multifracture
• nanofracture
• nightstick fracture
• nonfracture
• oblique fracture
• open fracture
• pilon fracture
• postfracture
• Pott's fracture
• prefracture
• pseudofracture
• refracture
• Rolando fracture
• Salter-Harris fracture
• simple fracture
• Smith's fracture
• stress fracture
• tracheal fracture
• vowel fracture

Related terms

• fractal
• fraction
• fragment

Translations

act of breaking, or something broken

Afrikaans: breuk (af), fraksie Arabic: كَسْر (ar) m (kasr), اِنْكِسَار m (inkisār) Armenian: please add this translation if you can Belarusian: перало́м m (pjeralóm) Bulgarian: счу́пване (bg) n (sčúpvane), фракту́ра (bg) f (fraktúra) Catalan: fractura (ca) f Czech: zlomenina (cs) f Danish: brud (da) n, fraktur c Dutch: breuk (nl) f, fractuur (nl) f Esperanto: rompo, frakturo Finnish: murtuma (fi), särö (fi), murtuminen (fi) French: fracture (fr) f Frisian: West Frisian: brek Galician: fractura f Georgian: please add this translation if you can German: Knochenbruch (de) m, Bruch (de) m, Fraktur (de) f Greek: κάταγμα (el) n (kátagma), θλάση (el) f (thlási) Italian: frattura (it) Khmer: ការបាក់ឆ្អឹង (kaa bak chʼəng) Latin: frāctūra (la) f Manx: brishey m Mongolian: please add this translation if you can Norwegian: Bokmål: fraktur m Nynorsk: fraktur m Papiamentu: breuk Polish: złamanie (pl) n, pęknięcie (pl) n Portuguese: fratura (pt) f Romanian: fractură (ro) f, fracturare f, rupere (ro) f Russian: перело́м (ru) m (perelóm) Slovak: zlomenina f Slovene: zlom (sl) m Spanish: fractura (es) f Swedish: brott (sv) n Tamil: முறிவு (ta) (muṟivu) Thai: please add this translation if you can Turkish: kırık (tr) Ukrainian: перело́м m (perelóm) Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can Volapük: bomabrek (vo) Welsh: toriad (cy) m Zazaki: şıkıte

(medicine) a break in a bone or cartilage

Albanian: thyerje (sq) f Arabic: كَسْر (ar) m (kasr) Armenian: կոտրվածք (hy) (kotrvackʻ) Azerbaijani: sınıq (az) Belarusian: перало́м m (pjeralóm) Bengali: ভঙ্গ (bn) (bhoṅgo), অস্থিভঙ্গ (osthibhoṅgo) Bulgarian: счу́пване (bg) n (sčúpvane), фракту́ра (bg) f (fraktúra) Chinese: Cantonese: 骨折 (gwat1 zit3) Mandarin: 骨折 (zh) (gǔzhé) Czech: zlomenina (cs) f Danish: fraktur c, knoglebrud (da) n Dutch: botbreuk (nl) f Egyptian: (pšn) Estonian: murd, luumurd Finnish: murtuma (fi) French: fracture (fr) f Georgian: მოტეხილობა (moṭexiloba) German: Knochenbruch (de) m, Fraktur (de) f Greek: κάταγμα (el) n (kátagma) Ancient Greek: ῥῆγμα n (rhêgma) Hebrew: שֶׁבֶר (he) m (shéver) Hindi: अस्थिभंग (hi) m (asthibhaṅg), शिकस्त (hi) f (śikast) Hungarian: törés (hu), csonttörés (hu) Icelandic: brot (is) n, beinbrot (is) n Indonesian: fraktur (id) Irish: briseadh m Italian: frattura (it) f Japanese: 骨折 (ja) (こっせつ, kossetsu) Kazakh: сынық (sınıq) Khmer: ការបាក់ឆ្អឹង (kaa bak chʼəng) Korean: 골절(骨折) (ko) (goljeol) Kyrgyz: сынык (ky) (sınık) Latin: frāctūra (la) f Latvian: lūzums m Lithuanian: lūžis m Macedonian: скршеница f (skršenica) Malay: fraktur (ms), patah tulang Norwegian: Bokmål: beinbrudd n Persian: Iranian Persian: شِکَسْت (šekast) Polish: złamanie (pl) n Portuguese: fratura (pt) f Romanian: fractură (ro) f Russian: перело́м (ru) m (perelóm) Sanskrit: अस्थिभङ्ग (sa) (asthibhaṅga) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: пре́лом m, прије́лом m Latin: prélom m, prijélom (sh) m Slovak: zlomenina f Slovene: zlom (sl) m Spanish: fractura (es) f Swedish: benbrott (sv) n, fraktur (sv) c Tajik: шикаст (šikast) Tamil: முறிவு (ta) (muṟivu) Thai: กระดูกหัก (grà-dùuk-hàk) Turkish: kırık (tr), çıkık (tr), sınık (tr) Turkmen: please add this translation if you can Ukrainian: перело́м m (perelóm) Urdu: شِکَسْت f (śikast) Uyghur: سۇنۇش (sunush) Uzbek: sinish (uz) Vietnamese: gãy xương Welsh: toriad (cy) m

(geology) fault

Bulgarian: цепнатина́ (bg) f (cepnatiná), лом (bg) m (lom) Dutch: breuk (nl) m or f Esperanto: faŭlto Finnish: murros (fi) Galician: falla f German: Verwerfung f Greek: θραύση (el) f (thráfsi), σπάσιμο (el) n (spásimo) Portuguese: falha (pt) f Russian: разло́м (ru) m (razlóm) Tamil: பிளவு (ta) (piḷavu), பிளப்பு (ta) (piḷappu) Welsh: toriad (cy) m, gorthoriant m

Verb

fracture (third-person singular simple present fractures, present participle fracturing, simple past and past participle fractured)

1. (ambitransitive) To break, or cause something to break.
2. (transitive, slang) To amuse (a person) greatly; to split someone's sides.
   • 2013, Frank De Blase, Pine Box for a Pin-Up:

     “You fracture me, Frankie,” Patsy said. “You should take that act on the road. Howsabout now?” This is the way it would go whenever I showed up at Patsy's, a dual of digs and wisecracks with the disapproving groans of those within earshot.

Derived terms

• fractile
• fracturable
• nonfracturing
• refracture

Translations

break

Arabic: يكسر, ينكسر Armenian: please add this translation if you can Belarusian: (transitive) лама́ць impf (lamácʹ), злама́ць pf (zlamácʹ); (intransitive) лама́цца impf (lamácca), злама́цца pf (zlamácca) Bulgarian: чупя (bg) (čupja), троша (bg) (troša) Catalan: fracturar (ca) Danish: (transitive) brække (da), (transitive) sprænge, (intransitive) sprænges Esperanto: rompi (eo) (transitive), rompiĝi (intransitive) Finnish: haljeta (fi), murtua (fi), rikkoa (fi), murtaa (fi), hajottaa (fi), särkeä (fi) French: fracturer (fr) Galician: fracturar (gl) German: brechen (de) Greek: θραύω (el) (thrávo), σπάω (el) (spáo) Khmer: បាក់ (km) (bak) Korean: 부러지다 (ko) (bureojida) Mongolian: please add this translation if you can Portuguese: fraturar (pt) Romanian: fractura (ro) Russian: (transitive) лома́ть (ru) impf (lomátʹ), слома́ть (ru) pf (slomátʹ); (intransitive) лома́ться (ru) impf (lomátʹsja), слома́ться (ru) pf (slomátʹsja) Spanish: fracturar (es) Thai: please add this translation if you can Turkish: Ottoman Turkish: قیرمق (kırmak) Ukrainian: (transitive) лама́ти impf (lamáty), злама́ти pf (zlamáty); (intransitive) лама́тися impf (lamátysja), злама́тися pf (zlamátysja) Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can Welsh: torri (cy) Zazaki: şıkınen

Further reading

• “fracture”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “fracture”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French fracture, from late Old French fracture, borrowed from Latin fractūra. Compare the inherited Old French fraiture, and the frainture (influenced by fraindre).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fʁak.tyʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (Paris):

  (file)

• Audio (Canada (Shawinigan)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

Noun

fracture f (plural fractures)

1. fracture

   fracture ouverte ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

Derived terms

• fracturer

Related terms

• fraction

Descendants

• → Romanian: fractură

Further reading

• “fracture”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [fraːkˈtuː.rɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [frakˈtuː.re]

Participle

frāctūre

1. vocative masculine singular of frāctūrus

Portuguese

Verb

fracture

1. inflection of fracturar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Spanish

Verb

fracture

1. inflection of fracturar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative