attrition

English

Etymology

15th century, from Middle English attricion, attricioun, from Middle French attricion, attrition and its etymon, Latin attrītiō (“a rubbing against”), from the verb attrītus, past participle of atterō (“to wear”), from ad- (“to, towards”) +‎ terō (“to rub”).^[1]^[2] By surface analysis, attrit +‎ -ion.

Pronunciation

(General American) IPA^(key): /əˈtɹɪʃən/
(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /əˈtɹɪʃn̩/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
Rhymes: -ɪʃən

Noun

attrition (countable and uncountable, plural attritions)

Grinding down or wearing away by friction.
Antonym: accretion
1. (dentistry) The wearing of teeth due to their grinding.
A gradual reduction in number.
Antonym: accretion
- 1990 December 16, Tom Sparks, “Universal Suffrage”, in Gay Community News, volume 18, number 22, page 4:
  Recent years have seen […] more and more blatant reversals of previous Supreme Court decisions in favor of the constitutional rights of minorities. These increasingly conservative decisions, and constant attrition of individuals' rights, have directly paralleled the alarming increase of convictions in our courts.
1. (human resources) A gradual, natural reduction in membership or personnel, as through injury, incapacitation, retirement, resignation, or death.
  Synonym: natural wastage
2. (sciences) The loss of participants during an experiment.
3. (linguistics) The loss of a first or second language or a portion of that language.
(theology) Imperfect contrition or remorse.

Derived terms

Related terms

contrition

Translations

wearing by friction

Bulgarian: изтъркване (bg) (iztǎrkvane), изтриване (bg) (iztrivane)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 磨損 / 磨损 (zh) (mósǔn)
Dutch: slijtage (nl), sleet (nl) m
Esperanto: forfrotiĝo
Finnish: kuluminen (fi), hiertyminen
French: usure (fr) f
German: Verschleiß (de) m, Abnutzung (de) f, Abrieb (de) m, Zermürbung (de) f, Abreibung (de) f, Abschürfung (de) f
Greek: τριβή (el) f (triví)
Hebrew: שחיקה (he) (shkhika)
Hungarian: kopás (hu), felőrlődés, felmorzsolódás
Japanese: 磨耗 (ja) (mamō)
Latin: attrītiō f
Macedonian: три́ење n (tríenje)
Occitan: abrasion f, atricion f
Portuguese: atrito (pt) m
Russian: истира́ние (ru) n (istiránije), стира́ние (ru) n (stiránije), тре́ние (ru) n (trénije)
Serbo-Croatian: istiranje n, habanje n
Spanish: abrasión (es) f
Swedish: nötning (sv) c, förslitning (sv) c
Turkish: yıpratma (tr)

gradual reduction in number

Arabic: ^{(please verify)} اِسْتِنْزَاف (ar) m (istinzāf)
Dutch: ^{(please verify)} vervliegen (nl), ^{(please verify)} uitputting (nl)
Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} malkreskado
Finnish: väheneminen (fi), hupeneminen (fi); rapautuminen (fi) (intangible); hävikki (fi) (tangible)
German: ^{(please verify)} Schwund (de) m, ^{(please verify)} Verlust (de) m
Greek: ^{(please verify)} εξάντληση (el) f (exántlisi)
Occitan: atricion f, ameniment m, amermament m
Serbo-Croatian: ^{(please verify)} osipanje (sh) n, ^{(please verify)} rasap (sh) m
Swedish: ^{(please verify)} utmattning (sv)

reduction in membership or personnel

Albanian: please add this translation if you can
Armenian: please add this translation if you can
Crimean Tatar: please add this translation if you can
Dutch: vrijwillig ontslag, natuurlijke afvloeiing f
Esperanto: malkreskado
Estonian: please add this translation if you can
Finnish: poistuma
French: départs volontaires m
Georgian: please add this translation if you can
German: Abgang (de) m, Arbeitskräfteabgang m, natürlicher Abgang m
Hungarian: felőrlés, felmorzsolás, lemorzsolódás (hu)
Japanese: 消耗 (ja) (shōmō)
Latvian: please add this translation if you can
Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can
Norwegian:
Bokmål: frafall n
Occitan: defeccion f, reduccion (oc) f, atricion f
Polish: no equivalent term in Polish, but see zmniejszenie (pl) n
Romanian: please add this translation if you can
Russian: у́быль персона́ла (úbylʹ personála)
Serbo-Croatian: osipanje (sh) n
Slovak: please add this translation if you can
Swedish: avfall (sv) n, bortfall (sv) n
Turkish: please add this translation if you can
Ukrainian: please add this translation if you can

loss of participants during an experiment

Dutch: verloop (nl) n
Finnish: kato (fi), attritio
German: Schwund (de) m
Occitan: defeccion f, atricion f
Serbo-Croatian: osipanje (sh)
Spanish: deserción (es) f
Swedish: bortfall (sv) n

theology: imperfect contrition or remorse

Finnish: attritio
German: unvollkommene Reue f
Irish: doilíos m
Occitan: atricion f
Serbo-Croatian: atricija f
Spanish: atrición (es) f

wearing of teeth

Esperanto: forfrotiĝo
Finnish: attritio
German: Abnutzung (de) f, Abrieb (de) m
Greek: φθορά (el) f (fthorá)
Hebrew: שחיקת שיניים (shkhikat shina'im)
Inuktitut: ᐊᓐᓂᕈᖅᐸᓪᓕᐊᓂᖅ (anniroqpallianiq)
Occitan: abrasion f, atricion f
Serbo-Croatian: trošenje n, abrazija f, atricija f
Spanish: desgaste dental m
Swedish: nötning (sv) c

loss of a first or second language or a portion of that language

Esperanto: perdo
Finnish: attritio; taantuminen (fi) (partial); menettäminen (fi) (total)
German: Verlust (de) m, Sprachverlust (de) m
Occitan: atricion f
Swedish: förlust (sv) c

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Dutch: ^{(please verify)} afvloeiingspolitiek
French: ^{(please verify)} départs volontaires m

Verb

attrition (third-person singular simple present attritions, present participle attritioning, simple past and past participle attritioned)

(transitive) To grind or wear down through friction.
Synonym: attrit

attritioned teeth; attritioned rock
- 1989, Shashi Tharoor, The Great Indian Novel‎^[2], New York: Arcade, Book 9, p. 189:
  […] He took her in his arms
  And kissed her long and wetly,
  Till, attritioned by her charms,
  His will collapsed completely.
(transitive) To reduce the number of (jobs or workers) by not hiring new employees to fill positions that become vacant (often with out).^[3]
- 1973, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Education, Hearings, page 186:
  […] but the heart of the health services in New York will have to attrition out some 3,000 to 5,000 jobs.
- 1989, Herbert S. White, “The Future of Library and Information Science Education”, in Librarians and the Awakening from Innocence,‎^[3], Boston: G.K. Hall, page 86:
  […] expenses can be cut, by attritioning faculty vacancies […]
(intransitive) To undergo a reduction in number.
The cohort of one hundred students had attritioned to sixty by the end of secondary school.

Translations

to grind or wear down through friction

Finnish: kuluttaa (fi)

to reduce jobs or workers by not hiring

Finnish: vähentää luonnollisen poistuman kautta

to undergo a reduction in number

Finnish: vähentyä (fi), karsiutua (fi)

References

^ “attriciǒun, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
^ “attrition, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
^ Clarence Barnhart et al., The Second Barnhart Dictionary of New English, Bronxville, NY: Barnhart Books.^[1]