What does embrittle mean?
"Embrittle" is a technical verb meaning to make a material brittle — that is, to render it hard and rigid but prone to cracking or shattering under stress rather than bending. It also works intransitively, describing a material's becoming brittle on its own: old plastics may simply embrittle with age. The word belongs primarily to the vocabulary of materials science and engineering, where it describes real and often dangerous forms of degradation: ultraviolet radiation can embrittle rubber, freezing temperatures can embrittle plastics, and hydrogen atoms diffusing into steel can embrittle it enough to cause catastrophic failure, a well-known phenomenon called hydrogen embrittlement. The corresponding noun, "embrittlement", appears frequently in engineering reports and safety discussions. Though uncommon in everyday conversation, "embrittle" is precise and vivid — an economical way of describing how things that should flex slowly turn fragile, whether through age, environment, or chemical attack.
verbTo make a material brittle, i.e. to cause it to become hard but liable to crack or shatter rather than bend; it can also be used intransitively, meaning to become brittle.
- (transitive) To make (a material) hard and liable to crack or shatter instead of bending, typically by exposure to heat, cold, radiation, or chemical agents.
- (intransitive) To become brittle.
"Repeated freeze–thaw cycles can embrittle old plastic pipes until they fracture under the slightest pressure."
"Ultraviolet light gradually embrittles rubber seals, causing them to crack and lose their elasticity."
"The alloy must be heat-treated carefully so that it does not embrittle and fail in service."
Hydrogen atoms are so small they can sneak into steel and embrittle it from within — a phenomenon that has toppled bridges and pipelines.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of embrittle
"Embrittle" is formed from the prefix "em-" (a variant of "en-", meaning "to make" or "to put into") combined with the adjective "brittle", which itself traces back through Middle English "brutel" or "bretel" and likely relates to Old English "brytan", meaning "to break" or "to shatter". The formation follows a productive English pattern seen in verbs such as "enlarge" and "enable", where "em-/en-" turns an adjective into a causative verb. The derived noun "embrittlement" arose alongside it and has become the standard term in metallurgy and polymer science for the process the verb describes.
Related word forms
How embrittle is actually used
A technical term used chiefly in materials science, engineering, and chemistry — contexts involving metals, polymers, plastics, and ceramics. It carries a negative connotation of degradation or loss of toughness. The derived noun "embrittlement" is more common than the verb itself, especially in fixed phrases like "hydrogen embrittlement" and "radiation embrittlement".
Easily confused with embrittle
"Brickle" is chiefly a dialectal adjective meaning brittle, whereas "embrittle" is the standard verb meaning to cause something to become brittle.