Fragmention

Fragmention is a neologism used to denote an entity or concept formed through fragmentation of a larger whole. In various contexts it is used as a generic term for any fragment-bearing object, whether physical or conceptual.

Etymology: formed from fragment plus ion, echoing scientific terminology; the suffix -ion connotes a process or resultant particle.

In chemistry and mass spectrometry, the standard term is fragment ion; fragmention appears occasionally as a creative coinage in diagrams or popular explanations to denote a fragment ion as a distinct class. It is not widely adopted in formal literature.

In philosophy and literary analysis, fragmention can describe a piece of memory, text, or identity that remains only partly integrated into a larger whole; scholars may treat fragmention as a marker of incomplete cognition or narrative.

In fictional or speculative contexts, fragmention has been used to name discrete fragments that retain partial properties of their source and can recombine; reception is mixed, with most authors preferring established terms.

See also: fragment ion; fragmentation; decomposition; emergent phenomena.