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PlainSpell

foible

/ˈfɔɪbəl/noun

foible is spelled F-O-I-B-L-E: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 28 million words in written English, the 159,707th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, foible means “A quirk, idiosyncrasy, frailty, or mannerism; an unusual habit that is slightly strange or silly” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of foible is foibles.

How many letters and syllables are in foible?

Letters6: F-O-I-B-L-E
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writingabout once in every 28 million words; the 159,707th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is foible?

Foible appears about once in every 28 million words in written English, the 159,707th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce foible?

  • /ˈfɔɪbəl/

Foible has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-foible.ogg, En-au-foible.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of foible

  • foibles plural
  • more foible comparative
  • most foible superlative

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does foible mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    A quirk, idiosyncrasy, frailty, or mannerism; an unusual habit that is slightly strange or silly.

    Try to look past his foibles and see the friendly fellow underneath.

  2. 2

    A weakness or failing of character.

  3. 3

    Part of a sword between the middle and the point, weaker than the forte.

adjective

  1. 1

    obsoleteWeak; feeble.

    The good Fencing-maſters, in France eſpecially, when they preſent a Foyle or Fleuret to their Scholars, tell him it hath two Parts, one of which he calleth the Fort or ſtrong, and the other the Foyble or weak […]

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Foible in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchtravers (a quirk, idiosyncrasy, or mannerism; unusual…), faiblesse (a weakness or failing of character), faible ((fencing) part of a sword)
GermanSchwäche, Eigenheit, Marotte, Spleen (a quirk, idiosyncrasy, or mannerism; unusual…)
Spanishmanía (a quirk, idiosyncrasy, or mannerism; unusual…), defecto, punto débil (a weakness or failing of character), parte débil ((fencing) part of a sword)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does foible come from?

1640–50, from Early Modern French foible (“feeble”) (contemporary French faible). Doublet of feeble.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after foible