Meaning

noun caramelized sugar cooled in thin sheets

adjective having little elasticity; hence easily cracked or fractured or snapped

adjective lacking warmth and generosity of spirit

originFrom Middle English britel, brutel, brotel (“brittle”), from Old English *brytel, *bryttol (“brittle, fragile”, literally “prone to or tending to break”); equivalent to brit + -le.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0