What does “quebradizo” mean in Spanish?
Uñas quebradizas y su relación con la anemia
B1 Spanish listening practice · Spanish · Picked for people who know some
Quebradizo means brittle — uñas quebradizas are nails that snap at nothing. The recipe is quebrar (“to break”) plus -izo, a suffix meaning “prone to, tending to”: resbaladizo (slippery, prone to sliding), olvidadizo (forgetful), enfermizo (sickly), huidizo (skittish, prone to fleeing). Learn the ending once and a whole family of Spanish adjectives unlocks at sight.
In the clip a doctor reads brittle nails as a warning sign: “se quiebran fácilmente... es otro de los signos o síntomas de anemia, de hierro bajo.” Note the verb itself: Latin America happily uses quebrar where Spain leans on romper. One more -izo for the road: arenas movedizas — sands prone to moving, quicksand.
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Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general) · SUBTLEX-ESP 2011 (spoken). These numbers are close, not perfect.