friable

English

WOTD – 18 March 2010, 18 March 2011

Etymology

Borrowed from French friable, from Latin friābilis (“friable”), from friō (“to crumble”).

Pronunciation

  • enPR: frī'ə-bəl, IPA(key): /ˈfɹaɪəbl̩/
    • Audio (Southern England):(file)
  • Rhymes: -aɪəbəl
  • Homophone: fryable

Adjective

friable (comparative more friable, superlative most friable)

  1. Easily broken into small fragments, crumbled, or reduced to powder.
    • 1955 September 15, Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons, published August 1958, →OCLC, part 1, page 61:
      […] I cautiously increased the magic friction that was doing away, in an illusional, if not factual, sense, with the physically irremovable, but psychologically very friable texture of the material divide (pajamas and robe) between the weight of two sunburnt legs, resting athwart my lap, and the hidden tumor of an unspeakable passion.
    • 1977, Angela Carter, The Passion of New Eve:
      Spiders had woven their vague trapezes between the friable heads of dead peonies in enormous glass jars streaked with tide marks where the water had evaporated long ago.
    • 1983, Lawrence Durrell, Sebastian, Avignon Quintet edition, Faber & Faber, published 2004, page 1020:
      This light, friable type of material offered excellent insulation against both desert heat and also the cold of darkness during the winter.
  2. (geology) Of soil, loose and large-grained in consistency.
    Sand has been incorporated to make the soil more friable.
    • 1890, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough:
      So while two men under his directions were digging the grave with sticks in the friable granitic soil, he superintended the costume of the other actors in the drama.
    • 2025 January 10, Dan Olson, 6:59 from the start, in Mantracks: A True Story of Fake Fossils‎[1], YouTube:
      The Glen Rose Formation, an expanse of rock 20 feet deep with alternating layers of solid limestone and softer, friable clay.
  3. (toxicology) Of a poison, likely to crumble and become airborne, thus becoming a health risk.
    • 1987 April, Old-House Journal:
      It is when asbestos-containing products are friable that hazardous asbestos fibers are likely to be released and sent airborne.
  4. (mathematics) Of a number: smooth, that factors completely into small prime numbers.

Synonyms

  • (easily broken into small fragments): crumbly

Derived terms

Translations

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Translations to be checked

See also

References

Anagrams

Catalan

Etymology

Latin friābilis, from friō (“to crumble”).

Pronunciation

Adjective

friable m or f (masculine and feminine plural friables)

  1. friable, crumbly
  • friabilitat

Further reading

French

Etymology

Inherited from Latin friābilis, from friō (“to crumble”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /fʁi.jabl/
  • Homophone: friables
  • Hyphenation: fri‧able

Adjective

friable (plural friables)

  1. crumbly
  2. crummy, pitiful

Derived terms

Further reading

Spanish

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈfɾjable/ [ˈfɾja.β̞le]
  • Rhymes: -able
  • Syllabification: fria‧ble

Adjective

friable m or f (masculine and feminine plural friables)

  1. friable, crumbly

Derived terms

Further reading

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