frailty

/ˈfreɪ(ə)lti/

/ˈfreɪlti/

Other forms: frailties

Frailty describes a quality that's shared by a sick kitten, an elderly man, and a shoddily built go cart. They all have a delicate weakness or vulnerability and seem to require some kind of care.

The Old French fraileté, or "weakness" is the root of frailty, and it in turn comes from the Latin word for "fragile," fragilis. What's interesting is that "fragility" was used in the 14th century to mean a kind of moral, rather than physical, weakness. Today frailty can be used this way too, to describe a state of having shaky — or fragile — morals.

Definitions of frailty

1. noun

   the state of being weak in health or body (especially from old age)
   synonyms: debility, feebleness, frailness, infirmity, valetudinarianism

   types:

   asthenia, astheny

   an abnormal loss of strength

   cachexia, cachexy, wasting

   any general reduction in vitality and strength of body and mind resulting from a debilitating chronic disease

   type of:

   softness, unfitness

   poor physical condition; being out of shape or out of condition (as from a life of ease and luxury)
2. noun

   moral weakness
   synonyms: vice

   type of:

   evil, evilness

   the quality of being morally wrong in principle or practice