fraction

将“fraction”分解为“frac”和“tion”。想象一个分数如同一个“frac”加一个“tion”，即一小部分加上计数单位。这样可以帮助记忆这个单词代表的是分数或部分。

fraction 部分，少量

来自PIE*bhreg, 分开，破开，词源同break, fragment. 即破开的部分，少量。

fraction

fraction: [14] Like fracture [15], which preserves its etymological meaning more closely, fraction comes ultimately from fractus, the past participle of Latin frangere ‘break’. This verb goes back to prehistoric Indo-European *bhr(e)g-, which also produced English break. The Latin derived noun fractiō simply meant ‘breaking’, particularly with reference to the breaking of Communion bread, but all trace of this literal sense has now virtually died out in English, leaving only the mathematical sense ‘number produced by division’ and its metaphorical offshoots.

Amongst the English meanings that have disappeared is ‘discord, quarrelling’, but before it went it produced fractious [18].
=> fracture, fragile, frail

fraction (n.)

late 14c., originally in the mathematical sense, from Anglo-French fraccioun (Old French fraccion, "a breaking," 12c., Modern French fraction) and directly from Late Latin fractionem (nominative fractio) "a breaking," especially into pieces, in Medieval Latin "a fragment, portion," noun of action from past participle stem of Latin frangere "to break (something) in pieces, shatter, fracture," from Proto-Italic *frang-, from a nasalized variant of PIE root *bhreg- "to break" (cognates: Sanskrit (giri)-bhraj "breaking-forth (out of the mountains);" Gothic brikan, Old English brecan "to break;" Lithuanian brasketi "crash, crack;" Old Irish braigim "break wind"). Meaning "a breaking or dividing" in English is from early 15c.; sense of "broken off piece, fragment," is from c. 1600.

1. If a stranger stops you, just wind the window down a fraction.

如果有陌生人拦你的车，把车窗摇下一点点就行。

2. These 50,000 arrears cases represent a tiny fraction of all home owners.

这5万个欠款案例只代表所有业主中的一小部分人。

3. The crop represents a tiny fraction of U.S. production.

农作物仅占美国出产物极小的一部分。

4. Only a small fraction of a bank's total deposits will be withdrawn at any one time.

任何时候，一家银行的总存款只有少量会被提取。

5. The car missed me by a fraction of an inch.

那车子差一点儿就要撞到我了.

【share, fraction, division, segment, part, fragment, section, piece, portion】
这组词都有“整体的一部分”的意思，其区别是：
share: 指共有的东西中应占有的一部分。
fraction: 指包含在全体中的一部分，暗示微不足道的一部分。
division: 通常指按类划分或分割成而的部分。常含抽象意义。
segment: 指某物的特定部分或自然形成的部分，也指线形物品的一段。
part: 含义广，最普通用词。常指整体中可大可小的一部分，也可指整体中可分开的独立部分。
fragment: 指因破裂、分割等产生的支离破碎、不规则的一部分。
section: 指整体中的分区，部分与部分之间有显著界限。
piece: 指整体中的一些个体，尤指从某个整体上分出来的一部分。
portion: 侧重从整体中所分配到的那一部分，含一定的独立意义。