friable

/ˈfɹaɪəbl̩/

//ˈfɹaɪəbl̩// adj

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"friable" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“friable” is uncommon English (frequency #92,624 among 2,507 “F” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#92,624
frequency rank, English
2,507
“F” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Easily broken into small fragments, crumbled, or reduced to powder.

Corpus desk

Index EN-friable · friable · English

friable · rank #92,624 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #92,624
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,507
  • PHOTO-FINISH Freyja

Nearest frequency peer: Freyja (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Long-tail ranks near “friable”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “friable” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for friable
PropertyValue
Headwordfriable
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
IPA/ˈfɹaɪəbl̩/
Letters7
Frequency rank#92,624
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “friable” in English

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).friablefalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Rare peers in the same band: “Freyja” (#92,623), “Frommer” (#92,626), “fundus” (#92,627). Among 2,507 “F” headwords, “friable” is #92,624. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

friable is uncommon English at frequency #92,624 among 2,507 “F” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˈfɹaɪəbl̩/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.

No generated misspelling entries exist for friable in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from French friable, from Latin friābilis (“friable”), from friō (“I crumble”). The correct English form is friable, spelled F-R-I-A-B-L-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Easily broken into small fragments, crumbled, or reduced to powder.
  2. 2
    Of soil, loose and large-grained in consistency.
  3. 3
    Of a poison, likely to crumble and become airborne, thus becoming a health risk.
  4. 4
    Of a number: smooth, that factors completely into small prime numbers.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how friable appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. 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.
  2. This light, friable type of material offered excellent insulation against both desert heat and also the cold of darkness during the winter.

Etymology

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

Synonyms

crumbly

This word in other languages

friable(Español)friable(Français)bröselig(Deutsch)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "friable"?
"friable" is spelled F-R-I-A-B-L-E. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈfɹaɪəbl̩/.
What does "friable" mean?
As an adjective, "friable" means: Easily broken into small fragments, crumbled, or reduced to powder.
How do you pronounce "friable"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "friable" is /ˈfɹaɪəbl̩/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "friable"?
Borrowed from French friable, from Latin friābilis (“friable”), from friō (“I crumble”). See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "friable", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Frommer#92,626fursona#92,628Ghassan#92,641Gladwin#92,647

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list