foible
noun

- a minor weakness or eccentricity in someone's character

- the weakest part of a sword blade, from the middle to the point

Oxford Languages / Merriam-Webster

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WORD ORIGIN

The word "foible" comes from the French word faible, which means weak. It entered the English language in the late 1600s and was used to describe a weak point or failing in a person's character.

The term has since evolved to refer to a minor flaw or idiosyncrasy that is considered to be an endearing or forgivable aspect of someone's personality.

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COCO CHANEL'S NUMBER-5 FOIBLE

Chanel No. 5, one of the earliest fragrances to bear a designer's name, is a tribute to Coco Chanel's lucky number.

In 1920, she enlisted the services of Ernest Beaux, a Russian-born Frenchman and former perfumer to the tsars in Russia, to create her first perfume. After ten months of hard work, Beaux presented ten different vials numbered one to five and twenty to twenty-four for the fashion icon's review. Coco Chanel chose the fifth vial, perhaps due to superstition.

She reportedly told Beaux, "I launch my dress collections on the fifth of May, the fifth month of the year, and so we will let this sample number five keep the name it already has; it will bring good luck." And it did. By 1929, Chanel No. 5 had become the world's best-selling perfume and remains one of the most timeless scents in history.

To this day, a new bottle of the iconic fragrance is reportedly sold every 30 seconds.

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SYNONYM

- a minor weakness or eccentricity in someone's character

blemish, chink in armour, defect, dorkiness, eccentricity, failing, FOIBLE, flaw, frailty, glitch, hang-up, idiosyncrasy, imperfection, inimitableness, kink, mannerism, mark, megrim, odd trait, originality, peculiarity, peccadillo, quirk, quirkiness, shortcoming, shortfall, singularity, tinge, unorthodoxness, unorthodoxy, weak point (spot), whim, whimsy

While all these words mean "an imperfection or weakness of character", foible applies specifically to a harmless or endearing weakness or idiosyncrasy.

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SMUGGLE OWAD into an English conversation, say something like:

“Did you know that Abraham Lincoln had a charming FOIBLE — a tendency to tell jokes and funny stories, even during serious conversations.”

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