Wiktionary

fractal

English

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WOTD – 18 October 2010
 
English Wikipedia has an article on:
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A Julia set fractal

Etymology

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From French fractal, from Latin fractus (“broken”), perfect passive participle of frangō (“break, fragment”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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fractal (plural fractals)

  1. (mathematics) A mathematical set that has a non-integer and constant Hausdorff dimension, corresponding to a geometric figure or object that is self-similar at arbitrarily small scales and thus has infinite complexity.
  2. (by extension) An object, system, or idea that exhibits a fractal-like property, such as the property of self-similarity at numerous but not infinitely many scales.
    • 1999, John J. McGonagle, Carolyn M. Vella, The Internet Age of Competitive Intelligence, →ISBN:
      In essence, you are assuming that each segment of a company is a fractal of the whole […]

Hyponyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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Adjective

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Romanesco, a vegetable related to broccoli and cauliflower made up of mini-spirals in fractal formation

fractal (not comparable)

  1. (mathematics) Having the form of a fractal; having to do with fractals.
    • 2015 January 26, Mark Diacono, “How to grow and cook cauliflower, 2015's trendiest veg: Tricky to grow, boring to boil ... so why is the outmoded cauliflower back at the culinary cutting edge? [print version: Cauliflower power, 24 January 2015, pp. G1 & G3]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Gardening)‎[1]:
      Romanesco was my gateway cauli and I've never stopped growing it. Not a variety as much as its own thing, Romanesco is a cauliflower to the French, a calabrese to the Italians. […] Visually, it may be the most remarkable thing you can grow: it is made up of lime-green mini-spirals that coil around themselves in fractal formation.
  2. (by extension, sometimes figurative) Exhibiting a fractal-like property.
    • 2007, Vincent Spina, “Three Central American writers: alone between two cultures”, in Carlota Caulfield, Darién J. Davis, editors, Companion to United States Latino Literatures, →ISBN:
      A fractal situation emerges in this way then: the consequences of Ulysses' decision to abandon Calypso are not entirely predictable.
    • 2020, Frank E. Zachos, Les Christidis, Stephen Garnett, “The Tree of Life, however, is an encaptic system displaying a nested hierarchy with a fractal pattern (lineages within lineages).”, in Mammalia, volume 84, number 1, page 2:

Derived terms

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Translations

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See also

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Commons
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Anagrams

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Catalan

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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fractal f (plural fractals)

  1. fractal

Adjective

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fractal m or f (masculine and feminine plural fractals)

  1. fractal

French

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Etymology

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Coined by Benoît Mandelbrot in 1975, from Latin fractus +‎ -al.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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fractal (feminine fractale, masculine plural fractals or fractaux, feminine plural fractales)

  1. fractal

Noun

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fractal m (plural fractals or fractaux)

  1. (rare) Synonym of fractale

Portuguese

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Alternative forms

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  • fratal (Portugal, nonstandard)

Pronunciation

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  • (Brazil) IPA(key): /fɾakˈtaw/ [fɾakˈtaʊ̯], /fɾa.kiˈtaw/ [fɾa.kiˈtaʊ̯]
    • (Southern Brazil) IPA(key): /fɾakˈtaw/ [fɾakˈtaʊ̯]
 
  • (Portugal) IPA(key): /fɾaˈktal/ [fɾaˈktaɫ], /fɾaˈtal/ [fɾaˈtaɫ]
    • (Southern Portugal) IPA(key): /fɾaˈkta.li/, /fɾaˈta.li/

  • Rhymes: (Portugal) -al, (Brazil) -aw
  • Hyphenation: frac‧tal

Noun

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fractal m (plural fractais)

  1. (mathematics) fractal (self-similar geometric figure)

Spanish

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Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /fɾaɡˈtal/ [fɾaɣ̞ˈt̪al]
  • Rhymes: -al
  • Syllabification: frac‧tal

Noun

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fractal m (plural fractales)

  1. fractal

Adjective

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fractal m or f (masculine and feminine plural fractales)

  1. fractal

Further reading

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