Frasil

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. To wear something thin or ragged at the edges through repeated rubbing or friction
2. To make a fabric or rope frayed and worn down by constant abrasion over time
3. Describing the act of fraying the edges of cloth or cord until the fibres come apart

Etymology: In its older English and Scots use, "frasil" referred to the fine cinders or crumbly charcoal left after a fire, the sort of residue that broke down into powder. It appears to have been borrowed from Old French "fraisil", which had the same sense. The French word is generally linked to "fraisser" or "fraiser", meaning to crumble or break into small pieces, though the exact ancestry of that verb is uncertain. The word is now rare and mostly confined to dictionaries and dialect glossaries, so its survival owes more to older kitchen and hearth vocabulary than to everyday speech.

Synonyms: frazil, frazil ice, slush ice