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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

friendly.

Generally warm, approachable and easy to relate with in character.

8 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/ˈfɹɛnd.li//ˈfɹɛn.li/
  1. Generally warm, approachable and easy to relate with in character.

    Your cat seems very friendly.
  2. Inviting, characteristic of friendliness.

    He gave a friendly smile.
  3. Having an easy or accepting relationship with something.

    a user-friendly software program
    a dog-friendly café
  4. Compatible with, or not damaging to (the compounded noun).

    in-compounds
    The cobbled streets aren't very bike-friendly.
    Organic farms only use soil-friendly fertilisers.
  5. Without any hostility.

    a friendly competition
    a friendly power or state
  6. Promoting the good of any person; favourable; propitious.

    a friendly breeze or gale
  7. Of or pertaining to friendlies (friendly noun sense 2, below). Also applied to other bipolar confrontations, such as team sports.

    usually
    The soldier was killed by friendly fire.
  8. Being or relating to two or more natural numbers with a common abundancy.

    friendly
    friendly pairs
Where this word comes from

From Middle English frendly, freendly, frendely, frendlich, from Old English frēondlīċ, from Proto-Germanic *frijōndlīkaz, equivalent to friend + -ly. Cognate with Saterland Frisian früntelk, fjuntelk (“friendly”), West Frisian freonlik (“friendly”), Dutch vriendelijk (“friendly”), German Low German fründelk, frünnelk (“friendly”), German freundlich (“friendly”). Doublet of friendlike.

noun/ˈfɹɛnd.li//ˈfɹɛn.li/
  1. A game which is of no consequence in terms of ranking, betting, etc.

    This match is merely a friendly, so don't worry too much about it.
  2. A person or entity on the same side as one's own in a conflict.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English frendly, freendly, frendely, frendlich, from Old English frēondlīċ, from Proto-Germanic *frijōndlīkaz, equivalent to friend + -ly. Cognate with Saterland Frisian früntelk, fjuntelk (“friendly”), West Frisian freonlik (“friendly”), Dutch vriendelijk (“friendly”), German Low German fründelk, frünnelk (“friendly”), German freundlich (“friendly”). Doublet of friendlike.

adv/ˈfɹɛnd.li//ˈfɹɛn.li/
  1. In a friendly manner; like a friend.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English frendly, frendliche, from Old English frēondlīċe (“in a friendly manner”), equivalent to friend + -ly.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.