friable

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French friable, from Latin friābilis (“friable”), from friō (“I 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.
   • 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. (of soil) Loose and large-grained in consistency.
   • 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.

3. (of poisons) Likely to crumble and become airborne, thus becoming a health risk
   • April 1987, 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

See also

• brittle

References

• “friable”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “friable”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• fabrile, firable, lifebar

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

• friabilité

Further reading

• “friable”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɾjable/
• Rhymes: -able
• Syllabification: fria‧ble

Adjective

friable m or f (masculine and feminine plural friables)

1. friable, crumbly

Derived terms

Further reading

• “friable”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014