fraction

English Online Dictionary. What means fraction‎? What does fraction mean?

English

Etymology

From Middle English fraccioun (“a breaking”), from Anglo-Norman, Old French fraccion, from Medieval Latin fractio (“a fragment, portion”), from earlier Latin fractio (“a breaking, a breaking into pieces”), from fractus, past participle of frangere (“to break”) (whence English frangible), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg- (English break). Doublet of frazione.

Pronunciation

• enPR: frăkʹshən, IPA^(key): /ˈfɹæk.ʃən/
• Hyphenation: frac‧tion
• Rhymes: -ækʃən

Noun

fraction (plural fractions)

1. A part of a whole, especially a comparatively small part.
2. (arithmetic) A ratio of two numbers (numerator and denominator), usually written one above the other and separated by a horizontal bar called the vinculum or, alternatively, in sequence on the same line and separated by a solidus (diagonal bar).

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:fraction

3. (chemistry) A component of a mixture, separated by fractionation.
4. (Christianity) In a eucharistic service, the breaking of the host.
5. A small amount.
6. (archaic) The act of breaking, or state of being broken, especially by violence.

Usage notes

• Can be used with either countable or uncountable nouns; however, the word fraction takes the number of the noun it is paired with.
  • If used with a plural countable noun, it needs to take a plural verb.
  • If used with a singular countable noun or an uncountable noun, it needs to take a singular verb.

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Verb

fraction (third-person singular simple present fractions, present participle fractioning, simple past and past participle fractioned)

1. (transitive) To divide or break into fractions.
2. (transitive) To fractionate.

Translations

References

• “fraction”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• “fraction”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, 2000, →ISBN.
• "fraction" in WordNet 2.0, Princeton University, 2003.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “fraction”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Anagrams

• Croftian, factor in, infocrat

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French fraction, borrowed from Latin fractiō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fʁak.sjɔ̃/

Noun

fraction f (plural fractions)

1. (now rare) breakup

   la fraction du pain, le fait de rompre le pain ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

2. fraction (small amount)

   Je me suis endormi pendant une fraction de seconde. ― I fell asleep for a fraction of a second.

3. (arithmetic) fraction

   Coordinate terms: numérateur, dénominateur

   barre de fraction ― fraction bar

   En divisant deux par trois, on obtient une fraction irréductible. ― When dividing two by three, you get an irreducible fraction.

Derived terms

• fractionnaire
• fractionnel
• fractionner

Related terms

• fracture

Descendants

• → Romanian: fracțiune
• → Turkish: fraksiyon
• → Persian: فراکسیون (ferâksyon)

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• fronçait