Etymologically
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fracas

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 14 October 2026 at 23:37. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈfɹækɑː/, /fɹəˈkɑː/ (UK); /ˈfɹeɪkəs/, /ˈfɹækəs/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French fracas (“crash, din, row”),[2][3][4][5][6] from Italian fracasso (“uproar, crash”),[2][3][4][5][6] from fracassare “to smash, shatter”.[2][3][4][5][6] Etymonline and Random House analyse the Italian verb as fra-, from Latin infra, and cassare “to break”,[4][6] which Etymonline derives from Latin quassare “to shake”.[4] It is related to quash.[4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

A disturbance, noisy quarrel or uproar (1727 in the OED, Barnhart and Etymonline, 1716 in Merriam-Webster).[7][3][4][5]

Semantic evolution

The meaning has stayed close to the French one,[7][4] today usually a noisy fight or brawl.[2][5][6]

Timeline

  • 1716 – Merriam-Webster's date.[5]
  • 1720–30 – Random House's dating.[6]
  • 1727 – a noisy quarrel (OED, Barnhart, Etymonline).[7][3][4]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A noisy, disorderly fight or quarrel; a brawl.
  2. A disturbance or uproar.

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  3. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c d e f Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
  7. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press