foible

English

WOTD – 11 August 2007

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɔɪbəl/

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• Rhymes: -ɔɪbəl

Noun

foible (plural foibles)

1. (chiefly in the plural) A quirk, idiosyncrasy, or mannerism; an unusual habit that is slightly strange or silly.

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

   • 1871–1872, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter XV, in Middlemarch […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to IV), Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book II:

     He knew that this was like the sudden impulse of a madman—incongruous even with his habitual foibles.

   • 1905 January 12, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], The Scarlet Pimpernel, popular edition, London: Greening & Co., published 20 March 1912, →OCLC:

     Marguerite Blakeney was, above all, a woman, with all a woman’s fascinating foibles, all a woman’s most lovable sins.

   • 1915, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, chapter XLV, in Of Human Bondage, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, →OCLC:

     They made up for the respect with which unconsciously they treated him by laughing at his foibles and lamenting his vices.

   • 1959 July 24, “An Ounce of Prevention”, in Meriden Record, page 6:

     Final fillip in the Vice-President's study has been a boning up on Premier Khrushchev's favorite foible, proverbs. The bibulous Russian leader likes to throw out homely homilies in his speeches and conversations […]

2. A weakness or failing of character.

   Synonym: fault

   • 1932, William Floyd, The Mistakes of Jesus:

     Jesus is reverenced as the one man who has lived unspotted by the world, free from human foibles, able to redeem mankind by his example.

3. (fencing) Part of a sword between the middle and the point, weaker than the forte.

Related terms

• feeble

Translations

a quirk, idiosyncrasy, or mannerism; unusual habit

• Czech: slabůstka f
• Danish: dårskab (da) c, svaghed c, manér c
• Dutch: gril (nl)
• French: travers (fr) m
• German: Schwäche (de) f, Eigenheit (de) f, Marotte (de) f, Spleen (de) m
• Hungarian: hóbort (hu)
• Spanish: manía (es) f

a weakness or failing of character

• Bulgarian: слабост (bg) f (slabost), недостатък (bg) m (nedostatǎk)
• Danish: svaghed c
• Dutch: zwakheid (nl)
• Finnish: heikkous (fi), heikko kohta
• French: faiblesse (fr) f
• German: Schwäche (de) f
• Hungarian: gyengeség (hu)
• Irish: laige f
• Russian: сла́бость (ru) f (slábostʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: slabost (sh) f
• Spanish: defecto (es) m, punto débil m
• Turkish: zaaf (tr)

(fencing) part of a sword

• Dutch: kling (nl)
• French: faible (fr) m
• Hungarian: penge gyengéje
• Spanish: parte débil f

Adjective

foible (comparative more foible, superlative most foible)

1. (obsolete) Weak; feeble.
   • a. 1648, Edward Herbert, 1st Baron Herbert of Cherbury, The Life of Edward Lord Herbert of Cherbury, page 46:

     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 […]

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French foible, feble.

Adjective

foible m or f (plural foibles)

1. feeble; weak

Derived terms

• foiblement

Descendants

• → English: foible
• French: faible

Old French

Adjective

foible m (oblique and nominative feminine singular foible)

1. Alternative form of feble

Derived terms

• foiblement