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Is there an adjective meaning "pertaining to friction"?

English Language & Usage Asked by arensb on June 26, 2021

A friend and I were discussing Apple earbuds. I said that the cables used to be coated with smooth plastic, but on the newer ones, the coating is closer to rubber, so the cables get tangled up easily.

I wanted to say, “I don’t like the new, frictive cables.” The only problem being that “frictive” isn’t a word.

I’ve searched the OED and thesaurus.com, but haven’t come up with a good word meaning “pertaining to friction” or “having the property of offering friction when rubbed.” Does anyone have any ideas?

2 Answers

In the engineering company where I used to work, we'd probably have said grippier, or that the old ones were slippery.

Frictional means pertaining to friction, but in the sense of forces rather than material properties

You could also say you preferred the low-friction version to be high-friction.

Correct answer by Chris H on June 26, 2021

I searched OED for all the mentions of friction and found

  • frictive (obsolete; "obtained by friction")
  • frictionable (rare; "liable to undergo friction")
  • frictional ("of or pertaining to friction, moved or produced by friction")

Frictionable would appear to be the one you need, although frictional is likely to be better understood, even if it causes mechanical engineers to wince or roll their eyes.

frictionable, adj.
rare.

Liable to undergo friction.

Answered by Andrew Leach on June 26, 2021

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