fragment

See also: Fragment

English

Fragments of a vessel

A mirror frame fragment

Etymology

From Late Middle English fragment, from Latin fragmentum (“a fragment, remnant”), from frangō (“I break”) +‎ -mentum.

Pronunciation

• (noun) IPA^(key): /ˈfɹæɡmənt/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (verb) IPA^(key): /fɹæɡˈmɛnt/, /ˈfɹæɡmɛnt/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛnt

Noun

fragment (plural fragments)

1. A part broken off; a small, detached portion; an imperfect part, either physically or not

   a fragment of an ancient writing

   I heard a small fragment of the conversation.

   • 2012, William Matthews, The Tragedy of Arthur‎^[1], University of California Press, page 68:

     […] and two enormous Scottish poems, the Buik of Alexander, which has been improbably ascribed to Barbour, and Sir Gilbert Hay's Buik of Alexander the Conquerour; one nearly complete Prose Life of Alexander and fragments of four others; a stanzaic translation of the Fuerres de Gadres which survives only in a fragment, the Romance of Cassamus, and three separate translations of the Secreta Secretorum.

2. (grammar) A sentence not containing a subject or a predicate; a sentence fragment.
3. (computing) An incomplete portion of code.
5. (Internet) A portion of a URL referring to a subordinate resource or anchor (such as a specific point on a web page), introduced by the # sign.

   Holonym: anchor link

   The URL www.example.com/home#recent ends with a fragment.

   • 2006, Michael Mahemoff, Ajax Design Patterns, O'Reilly Media, →ISBN, page 523:

     Unique URLs requires you to make like an information architect and do some URL design work. Possibly, you'll be controlling only the fragment identifier rather than the entire URL, but even the fragment identifier has usability implications.

6. (biology) A split piece of an organism that has undergone the asexual reproduction process where the organism spilts into one or more pieces, then those pieces become new individuals.

Derived terms

• fission fragment
• fragmentable
• fragmental
• fragment antigen binding
• fragmentary
• fragmentation
• fragment crystallizable region
• fragmentectomy
• fragmentism
• fragmentist
• fragmentography
• fragment shader
• hyperfragment
• interfragment
• Klenow fragment
• macrofragment
• megafragment
• microfragment
• multifragment
• nanofragment
• Okazaki fragment
• peptide fragment
• photofragment
• restriction fragment
• sentence fragment
• soul fragment
• stuffer fragment
• stutter fragment
• subfragment

 

Related terms

• fractal
• fraction
• fractious
• fracture
• infract
• infraction
• refract
• refraction
• refractive
• refractory
• refrangible
• refringent

 

Translations

portion or segment of an object

• Arabic: قِطْعَة f (qiṭʕa), شَقَفَة f (šaqafa), كَسْرَة f (kasra)

  Hijazi Arabic: قِطْعة f (giṭʕa), شِقْفة f (šigfa), كَسْرة f (kasra)

• Armenian: կտոր (hy) (ktor)
• Belarusian: аске́пак m (askjépak), аскалёпак m (askaljópak), аско́лак m (askólak), фрагме́нт m (frahmjént), фрагмэ́нт m (frahmént), абло́мак m (ablómak), адло́мак m (adlómak), зло́мак m (zlómak), кусо́к m (kusók)
• Bulgarian: къс (bg) m (kǎs), парче́ (bg) n (parčé), отло́мък (bg) m (otlómǎk), фрагме́нт (bg) m (fragmént)
• Catalan: fragment (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 碎片 (zh) (suìpiàn), 碎屑 (zh) (suìxiè), 斷片 / 断片 (zh) (duànpiàn), 碴兒 / 碴儿 (zh) (chár)

• Czech: úlomek (cs) m, fragment (cs) m, zlomek (cs) m, střep (cs) m
• Danish: fragment (da) n
• Dutch: fragment (nl) n
• Esperanto: fragmento (eo)
• Finnish: sirpale (fi), osanen (fi), fragmentti (fi)
• French: fragment (fr) m
• Galician: fragmento (gl) m, retrinco m
• German: Fragment (de) n, Bruchstück (de) n
• Greek: θραύσμα (el) n (thráfsma)

  Ancient: θραῦμα n (thraûma), κλάσμα n (klásma)

• Hebrew: פָּרוּר (he) m (parur), רְסִיס (he) m (resís)
• Hindi: अंश (hi) m (añś), खंड (hi) m (khaṇḍ), टुकड़ा m (ṭukṛā), भाग (hi) m (bhāg)
• Hungarian: töredék (hu), darab (hu)
• Indonesian: fragmen (id)
• Irish: boim m (literary)
• Italian: frammento (it) m
• Japanese: 断片 (ja) (だんぺん, danpen), 破片 (ja) (はへん, hahen) (especially a broken part), フラグメント (furagumento), 欠片 (ja) (かけら, kakera)
• Kazakh: фрагмент (fragment), үзік (üzık), үзiндi (üzindi)
• Korean: 조각 (ko) (jogak), 파편(破片) (ko) (papyeon)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: لەت (let)

• Latin: fragmen n, fragmentum n
• Macedonian: одломка f (odlomka)
• Malay: serpihan, fragmen
• Maori: mōrohe, mōtete, kuru, rutunga, kongakonga, kora, korakora, tūāporo, porohanga, rutunga, tīmokamoka
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: fragment n, bruddstykke n

  Nynorsk: fragment n

• Occitan: fragment (oc) m
• Old English: ġebrot n
• Old Norse: brot n
• Persian: قطعه (fa) (qet'e), پارچه (fa) (pârče)
• Polish: część (pl) f, fragment (pl) m, kawałek (pl) m, urywek (pl) m
• Portuguese: fragmento (pt) m
• Romanian: bucată (ro) f, fragment (ro) n, fărâmă (ro) f, crâmpei (ro) n
• Russian: оско́лок (ru) m (oskólok), обло́мок (ru) m (oblómok), кусо́к (ru) m (kusók), фрагме́нт (ru) m (fragmént)
• Sanskrit: खण्ड (sa) n (khaṇḍa)
• Scots: pran
• Scottish Gaelic: bìdeag f, criomag f, mìr m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: фра̀гмент m, у̀ломак m, о̀дломак m, ко̀ма̄д m

  Roman: fràgment (sh) m, ùlomak (sh) m, òdlomak (sh) m, kòmād (sh) m

• Slovak: úlomok m, zlomok m, kúsok m, fragment m
• Slovene: drobec m
• Spanish: fragmento (es)
• Swedish: fragment (sv) n
• Tajik: порча (porča)
• Turkish: parça (tr), bölüm (tr), kısım (tr), kırıntı (tr)
• Ukrainian: шмат m (šmat), шмато́к m (šmatók), кусо́к m (kusók), ку́сень m (kúsenʹ), фрагме́нт m (frahmént), ула́мок m (ulámok), кусо́к m (kusók)
• Uyghur: پارچە (parche)
• Uzbek: parcha (uz)
• Yiddish: פֿראַגמענט m (fragment)

grammar: a sentence

• German: Satzfragment (de) n
• Greek: απόσπασμα (el) n (apóspasma)
• Hindi: वाक्यांश (vākyāñś)
• Japanese: 断片 (ja) (だんぺん, danpen)
• Russian: фрагме́нт (ru) m (fragmént), отры́вок (ru) m (otrývok) (passage)
• Ukrainian: фрагме́нт m (frahmént), ури́вок m (urývok)

Verb

fragment (third-person singular simple present fragments, present participle fragmenting, simple past and past participle fragmented)

1. (intransitive) To break apart.
   • 2023 July 31, Charles Hugh Smith, Lessons from the Unraveling of the Roman Empire: Simplification, Localization‎^[2]:

     Once the centralized power of Rome fragmented, economic, social and political power simplified and relocalized.

2. (transitive) To cause to be broken into pieces.
   • 1982 December 18, Pat Califa, “Open Policy”, in Gay Community News, volume 10, number 22, page 5:

     Samois includes celebate ^[sic], heterosexual and bisexual women as well as lesbians, and I feel very strongly that this is the wisest choice. Our community is so fragile that we can't afford to fragment it by excommunicating non-lesbian women.

3. (transitive, computing) To break up and disperse (a file) into non-contiguous areas of a disk.
4. (intransitive, biology) Of an organism: to undergo the asexual reproduction process where an organism spilts into one or more pieces, then those pieces become new individuals.

Synonyms

• fragmentize

Antonyms

• defragment

Derived terms

• defragmentation
• defragmenter
• fragmentable
• fragmentation

Translations

to break apart

• Bulgarian: фрагментирам (fragmentiram), раздробявам (bg) (razdrobjavam)
• Catalan: fragmentar (ca)
• Dutch: fragmenteren (nl)
• Finnish: särkyä (fi), rikkoutua (fi), sirpaloitua, pirstoutua (fi), hajota (fi)
• French: fragmenter (fr)
• Galician: fragmentar (gl)
• German: fragmentieren (de)
• Greek: θρυμματίζω (el) (thrymmatízo)
• Hindi: खंडन (hi) (khaṇḍan)
• Italian: frammentare (it)
• Malay: whakakorakora
• Portuguese: fragmentar (pt)
• Romanian: fragmenta (ro)
• Russian: разва́ливаться (ru) impf (razválivatʹsja), развали́ться (ru) pf (razvalítʹsja)
• Serbo-Croatian: fragmentírati (sh)
• Spanish: fragmentar (es)
• Ukrainian: розва́люватися impf (rozváljuvatysja), розвали́тися pf (rozvalýtysja)

to cause to be broken into pieces

• Bulgarian: раздробявам се (razdrobjavam se)
• Catalan: fragmentar (ca)
• Dutch: fragmenteren (nl)
• Finnish: särkeä (fi), rikkoa (fi), pirstoa (fi), hajottaa (fi)
• French: fragmenter (fr)
• Galician: fragmentar (gl)
• German: fragmentieren (de)
• Greek: τεμαχίζω (el) (temachízo), κομματιάζω (el) (kommatiázo)
• Italian: frammentare (it)
• Maori: māhurehure
• Portuguese: fragmentar (pt)
• Romanian: fragmenta (ro)
• Russian: разла́мывать (ru) impf (razlámyvatʹ), разлома́ть (ru) pf (razlomátʹ), фрагменти́ровать (ru) (fragmentírovatʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: fragmentírati (sh)
• Spanish: fragmentar (es)
• Ukrainian: фрагментува́ти (frahmentuváty), розлама́ти pf (rozlamáty)

Further reading

• “fragment”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “fragment”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• fragment on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Catalan

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin fragmentum (“a fragment, remnant”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [fɾəɡˈmen]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [fɾəɡˈment]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [fɾaɡˈment]

Noun

fragment m (plural fragments)

1. a fragment

Derived terms

• fragmentari
• fragment d'Okazaki

Further reading

• “fragment” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “fragment”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “fragment” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “fragment” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Czech

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin fragmentum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈfraɡmɛnt]

Noun

fragment m inan

1. fragment (portion or segment of an object)

Declension

Declension of fragment (hard masculine inanimate)

	singular	plural
nominative	fragment	fragmenty
genitive	fragmentu	fragmentů
dative	fragmentu	fragmentům
accusative	fragment	fragmenty
vocative	fragmente	fragmenty
locative	fragmentu	fragmentech
instrumental	fragmentem	fragmenty

Related terms

• frakce

 

Further reading

• “fragment”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “fragment”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “fragment”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech)

Dutch

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin fragmentum (“a fragment, remnant”). Influence by French fragment.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /frɑxˈmɛnt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: frag‧ment
• Rhymes: -ɛnt

Noun

fragment n (plural fragmenten, diminutive fragmentje n)

1. a fragment, broken portion
2. a fragment, part of a work (whether due to selection or incompleteness)

Derived terms

• fragmentarisch
• fragmentenhypothese
• fragmenteren

Descendants

• → Indonesian: fragmen

Further reading

• “fragment” in Woordenlijst Nederlandse Taal – Officiële Spelling, Nederlandse Taalunie. [the official spelling word list for the Dutch language]

French

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin fragmentum (“a fragment, remnant”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fʁaɡ.mɑ̃/

• Audio (Paris):

  (file)

• Homophone: fragments
• Hyphenation: frag‧ment

Noun

fragment m (plural fragments)

1. fragment

Derived terms

• fragment d’Okazaki
• fragmentaire
• fragmenter

Related terms

• fraction

Descendants

• → Romanian: fragment
• → Turkish: fragman

Further reading

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

Middle English

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin fragmentum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfraɡmɛnt/

Noun

fragment (Late Middle English)

1. a small part or piece; a fragment

Descendants

• English: fragment

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin fragmentum.

Noun

fragment n (definite singular fragmentet, indefinite plural fragment or fragmenter, definite plural fragmenta or fragmentene)

1. a fragment

Related terms

• fragmentere

References

• “fragment” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin fragmentum.

Noun

fragment n (definite singular fragmentet, indefinite plural fragment, definite plural fragmenta)

1. a fragment

Related terms

• fragmentere

References

• “fragment” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Polish

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin fragmentum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfraɡ.mɛnt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɡmɛnt
• Syllabification: frag‧ment

Noun

fragment m inan

1. fragment, excerpt, passage

   Synonym: urywek

Declension

Declension of fragment

	singular	plural
nominative	fragment	fragmenty
genitive	fragmentu	fragmentów
dative	fragmentowi	fragmentom
accusative	fragment	fragmenty
instrumental	fragmentem	fragmentami
locative	fragmencie	fragmentach
vocative	fragmencie	fragmenty

Further reading

• fragment in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• fragment in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French fragment, Latin fragmentum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fraɡˈment/

Noun

fragment n (plural fragmente)

1. fragment

   Synonyms: bucată, frântură

Declension

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	fragment	fragmentul		fragmente	fragmentele
genitive-dative	fragment	fragmentului		fragmente	fragmentelor
vocative	fragmentule			fragmentelor

Further reading

• fragment in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language)

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin fragmentum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /frǎɡment/
• Hyphenation: frag‧ment

Noun

fràgment m (Cyrillic spelling фра̀гмент)

1. fragment

Declension

Declension of fragment

	singular	plural
nominative	fràgment	fragmenti
genitive	fragmenta	fràgmenātā
dative	fragmentu	fragmentima
accusative	fragment	fragmente
vocative	fragmente	fragmenti
locative	fragmentu	fragmentima
instrumental	fragmentom	fragmentima

Further reading

• “fragment”, in Hrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2024

Swedish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin fragmentum.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

fragment n

1. a fragment

Declension

Declension of fragment

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	fragment	fragments
	definite	fragmentet	fragmentets
plural	indefinite	fragment	fragments
	definite	fragmenten	fragmentens

Related terms

• fragmentarisk
• fragmentera
• fragmentering
• fragmentisera
• fragmentisering

Further reading

• fragment in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)