fractional

Etymology

It is formed from English fraction + -al.^[2][3][4][5] The noun, first used in its mathematical sense in the late 14th century, is from Anglo-Norman fraccioun and directly from Late Latin frāctiō (“a breaking”),^[3] from the past participle stem of Latin frangō (“to break in pieces, shatter”),^[3] from a nasalized variant of Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg- (“to break”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of, relating to or being a fraction; hence partial or insignificant: 1675, in the preface to J. Ogilby's Britannia.^[2][4] Etymonline dates the word to the 1670s,^[3] Dictionary.com to 1665–75,^[5] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged gives 1650 as its first known use.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Johnson (1755) defined it as "belonging to a broken number", quoting Cocker's Arithmetick on "negative or fractional numbers".^[7] From the arithmetical sense came the general one of something small, partial or insignificant.^[2][6][8] In chemistry it has been used since 1857 of processes that separate the parts of a mixture by their different physical properties, as in fractional distillation and fractional crystallization.^[2][8] From 1929, in Communist use, it also referred to a fraction, a group working within a larger organization.^[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged also records a use of fractional currency.^[6]

Timeline

• 1675 – of or relating to a fraction or fractions; partial, insignificant.^[2][4] Merriam-Webster Unabridged gives 1650.^[6]
• 1857 – in chemistry, of a process separating a mixture into fractions.^[2]
• 1929 – in Communist use, of or relating to a fraction within a party.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of, relating to or forming a fraction or fractions: a fractional exponent.^[8][6][2]
2. Very small; insignificant: Prices rose by a fractional amount.^[8][6]
3. (chemistry) Of a process that separates the parts of a mixture by their different physical properties, such as boiling points.^[8][6][2]
4. Broken up; fragmented.^[8]
5. Of, relating to or being fractional currency.^[6]

Word family

• fractionally
• fractionalize
• fractional distillation

Related words

• fraction
• fracture
• fragment
• break

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
8. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins