Frag
/fræɡ/noun
A piece broken off from something; also, in slang, to kill or damage with a grenade or explosive.
Did you know?The military slang sense of *frag* is tied to fragmentation explosives, while the older noun *frag* comes from the same family as *fragment*, ultimately rooted in Latin *frangere* meaning “to break.”
Etymological Timeline
Latin
Latin
frangere
“to break”
Late Latin
Latin
fragmentum
“a broken piece, fragment”
Old French
French
fragment
“a piece broken off”
Middle English
English
fragmen(t)
“a fragment; a broken piece”
20th Century
English
frag
“a piece of something broken off; later military slang for to kill with a grenade or explosive”