friar
/ˈfɹaɪɚ/noun
friar is spelled F-R-I-A-R: 5 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 1.1 times per million words in written English, the 27,462nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, friar means “A member of a mendicant Christian order such as the Augustinians, Carmelites (white friars), Franciscans (grey friars) or the Dominicans (black…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of friar is friars.
How many letters and syllables are in friar?
| Letters | 5: F-R-I-A-R |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.1 times per million words; the 27,462nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with |
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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is friar?
Friar appears 1.1 times per million words in written English, the 27,462nd 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 friar?
- UK /ˈfɹaɪə/
- US /ˈfɹaɪɚ/
Friar 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-fryer.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with friar?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as friar from its last stressed vowel (/aɪəɹ/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of friar
- friars plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does friar mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A member of a mendicant Christian order such as the Augustinians, Carmelites (white friars), Franciscans (grey friars) or the Dominicans (black friars).
- 2
datedA white or pale patch on a printed page caused by poor inking.
- 3
An American fish, the silverside.
- 4
Such fish prepared as food.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Friar in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense member of certain Christian orders:
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 friar come from?
Inherited from Middle English frere, borrowed from Old French frere, from Latin frāter, from Proto-Italic *frātēr, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰréh₂tēr. Doublet of bhai, brother, bru, frater, pal, and vai.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).