frickle

adjective

1. Not solid or firm; loose; friable.

   Vpon this fain and frickle foundation of two false and contrary opinions was that leage of Smalcaldium stroken: whereof ensued that lamentable and cruell warre, to the greate waste and destruction of Germany, with the murder of infinit thousands of men.

2. Changeable; undependable; fickle.

   Yvette Guilbert, a greater favourite than ever with the generally frickle and changeable Parisians, has been singing for three nights at Lyons, where she received 1000 francs an evening—that is, ₤40.

Where it comes from

Uncertain. Perhaps from dialectal frick (“to move briskly, fidget”) + -le. Alternatively, perhaps related to German Low German friggeln, a variant of wriggeln (“to wriggle”).

Adapted from the Wiktionary entry frickle (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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