Make Your Point: FRIABLE

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pronounce FRIABLE:

FRY uh bull

connect this word to others:

Today we're checking out the rare word friable, a relative of words like friction, fray, and possibly traffic.

Friable things are brittle, crumbly, breakable, fragile, or fra__ible ("not just breakable, but readily breakable").

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)

definition:

You might guess that friable things can be fried—heated up in fat to become crispy and delicious. Like potatoes! It's a very reasonable guess, but "fry" traces to the Latin frigere, "to fry, to roast," while our word "friable" traces to friare, "to crumble into little pieces; to rub away."

For centuries in English, we've used "friable" to mean "easily crumbling into tiny pieces or powder."

(So what's the word for things that can be fried, like potatoes? None of the dictionaries I checked list "fryable," but you could still use it.)

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Adjective: "friable soil;" "The soil was friable."

Other forms:

You could describe things as "unfriable" and "semi-friable."

And you could refer to the quality of being friable as "friability" (or, if you prefer, but I don't, "friableness").

how to use it:

Because plenty of people have never in their lives heard the word "friable," most of the time, you're much better off using "crumbly" instead. Everyone understands "crumbly."

But if you do want to strike a tone that's formal, academic, and sophisticated, and if you're pretty sure your audience will understand "friable" or figure it out from the context, then you could talk about friable soil, dirt, clay, land, asbestos, leaves, dried herbs, lesions (ouch), and other physical objects.

Or to get abstract, you could talk about friable ideas, understandings, memories, relationships, or emotions.

Basically, if it seems to fall apart into fine bits with a light touch, you can call it friable.

examples:

"In the shade of the papaya trees the soil was dark brown, with the moist, friable feel that gardeners seek."
— Charles C. Mann, 1491, 2005

"Our self-knowledge... need not be delusional, rigid, nor friable—it may be a real, if mercurial, source of wisdom, a 'part of nature that just keeps pouring and pouring.'"
— Maggie Nelson, quoting Fred Moten and Stefano Harney, The New Yorker, 15 March 2019

has this page helped you understand "friable"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this term, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "friable" without saying "brittle" or "crumbly."

try it out:

According to a review by Katy Simpson Smith, the novel Dawson's Fall by Roxana Robinson suggests that "morality is friable."

Could you talk about what that means? Do you think it's a statement that applies to most people today? Why or why not?

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game for this month is Confounding Contronyms!

In each issue, I'll give you two quotes, each with a blank. The same word goes in both blanks—but it means opposite things. Your job is to come up with that word: that slippery little contronym. To see the hints, highlight the hidden white text. To see the answer, scroll to the bottom.

Try this today:

Quote 1: "Just let’s remember we’ve got a _____ _____ murder charge here."
— Reginald Rose, Twelve Angry Men, 1954

Quote 2: "If the burn doesn't blister, you likely have a _____ _____ burn and probably don't need medical treatment."
— Ellen Airhart, New York Times, 22 January 2025

Hint 1: This two-word phrase starts with the letter... F.

Hint 2: This two-word phrase means both... "most severe" and "least severe."

review this word:

1. The precise opposite of FRIABLE is UNFRIABLE, but a pretty close opposite of FRIABLE is

A. ROCOCO (highly decorated, or finely detailed).
B. ROBUST (strong, sturdy, and resilient to damage).
C. ROUGHSHOD (treating others with cruel disregard).

2. Reviewing a memoir, Lisa Breenan-Jobs observed how sometimes, human memory can be "_____ and friable."

A. evergreen
B. adaptable
C. slippery

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love.

I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.

From my blog:
On vocabulary...
  36 ways to study words.
  Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
  How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
On writing...
How to improve any sentence.
How to motivate our kids to write.
How to stop procrastinating and start writing.
How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count.

From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.

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