Friction

How to spell friction

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce friction

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does friction mean?

1. nounThe resistance that one surface or object encounters when moving over another.
2. nounDisagreement, tension, or conflict between people or groups.

Friction in a sentence

• The brakes work by using friction to slow the wheels.

• There was constant friction between the two department heads.

• A layer of oil reduces friction between the moving parts.

• The merger caused some friction among the staff.

Where does friction come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word comes from the Latin frictio, meaning a rubbing or massaging, which was itself formed from the verb fricare, 'to rub'. The same fricare root surfaces in the English words 'fricassee', a dish of meat rubbed and cut up, and 'dentifrice', literally something for rubbing the teeth. English took friction in around the early 1600s, at first as a medical term for the rubbing of the body, before it settled into its modern physical sense of the resistance that arises when one surface drags against another. From there the meaning extended naturally into the figurative idea of disagreement or tension between people who rub each other the wrong way. The spelling keeps the Latin -ction cluster intact, so the trap for writers is the silent way the c and t blend into the spoken 'k-sh' sound, which tempts people toward a phonetic but wrong 'frickshun'.

How the word is built

• frict- (from Latin fricare: to rub)
• -ion (noun suffix: act or state of)