Meanings
frazil1
plural frazils
- CanadaUScountableuncountableA collection of stray ice crystals that form in fast-moving water.
It has been suggested that it may be due to the accumulation of frazil or anchor-ice.
1888 March 17th, The Montreal Gazette, Cent.2 more examples
The greater the surface of the swift open water, the greater the quantity of frazil made in a minute, hour, or day. Every open rapid is, in ‘zero weather’, a frazil-factory.
1893 February 9th, The Youth’s Companion, Boston: Perry Mason & Co., page 71/4Following currents that flow across the Bering and Chukchi shelves, microplastics from the Pacific that arrive in Arctic waters are gathered up by the tiny crystals that clump together to form ‘frazil’ (the gloss of soft ice that forms on the surface of the water) and then are bound into the sea ice.
2020, David Farrier, “The Library of Babel”, in Footprints, 4th Estate, →ISBN
frazil2
Origin
frazil · noun
- Old Frenchfaisil
- Frenchfraisil“coal cinders”
- Canadian Frenchfrasil
- Englishfrazil
From Canadian French frasil, frazil, fraisil, from French fraisil (“coal cinders”), from Old French faisil.
More words from Canadian French, French, Old French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
French frazil
- frazilcollection of stray ice crystals
Polish śryż
- śryżcollection of stray ice crystals
Russian шуга́, на́ледь
- шуга́ (šugá)collection of stray ice crystals
- на́ледь (náledʹ)collection of stray ice crystals
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with frazil
All rhymes →Sounds the same
Cite this entry
frazil. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/frazil
“frazil.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/frazil. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “frazil,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/frazil.
Source: frazil on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.