Word of the Day

: January 16, 2009

foible

noun FOY-bul

What It Means

1 : the part of a sword or foil blade between the middle and point

2 : a minor flaw or shortcoming in character or behavior : weakness

foible in Context

The students admired their teacher despite his foibles and eccentricities.

Did You Know?

The weakest part of a sword blade is the portion between the middle and the pointed tip. Back in the mid-1600s, English speakers borrowed the French word "foible" to refer to that most easily broken part of the sword or foil. Despite the superficial resemblance, "foible" does not come from "foil." The French "foible" was an adjective meaning "weak." (That French word, which is now obsolete, is derived from the same Old French term, "feble," that gives us "feeble.") The English "foible" soon came to be applied not only to weaknesses in blades, but also to minor failings in character. It appeared in print with that use in 1673, and now the "character flaw" sense is considerably more popular than the original sword application.