nonfissile
|non-fiss-ile|
🇺🇸
/nɑnˈfɪsəl/
🇬🇧
/nɒnˈfɪsəl/
not capable of splitting
Etymology
'nonfissile' is formed from the prefix 'non-' (from Latin 'non', meaning 'not') + 'fissile', which originates from Latin 'fissilis' meaning 'able to be split'.
'fissile' comes from Latin 'fissilis' (from the verb 'findere'/'findō', to split) and entered scientific English to mean 'capable of fission'; the negative prefix 'non-' was added in English to form 'nonfissile'.
Originally related to the general sense 'able to be split', 'fissile' gained a specialized nuclear-physics sense 'capable of sustaining fission'; 'nonfissile' therefore came to mean specifically 'not capable of sustaining nuclear fission' as well as retaining a general 'not easily split' sense in geology.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Adjective 1
not fissile; incapable of sustaining a nuclear fission chain reaction under given conditions (i.e., not usable as a fissile material).
Uranium-238 is nonfissile with thermal neutrons.
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Adjective 2
not fissile in the geological/mineral sense; not easily split into thin layers or along planes of weakness.
The shale in this outcrop is nonfissile and does not split into thin sheets.
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Last updated: 2025/11/15 01:07