• IPA: /ˈfɹɛnd.li/, /ˈfɹɛn.li/

From Middle English frendly, freendly, frendely, frendlich, from Old English frēondlīċ, from Proto-Germanic *frijōndlīkaz, equivalent to friend + -ly.

friendly (comparative friendlier, superlative friendliest)

1. Generally warm, approachable and easy to relate with in character.

   Your cat seems very friendly.

   • 1909, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], “A Court Ball”, in The Squire’s Daughter, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, published 1919, →OCLC ↗, page 9 ↗:

     They stayed together during three dances, went out on to the terrace, explored wherever they were permitted to explore, paid two visits to the buffet, and enjoyed themselves much in the same way as if they had been school-children surreptitiously breaking loose from an assembly of grown-ups. The boy became volubly friendly and bubbling over with unexpected humour and high spirits.

2. Inviting, characteristic of friendliness.

   He gave a friendly smile.

3. Having an easy or accepting relationship with something.

   a user-friendly software program

   a dog-friendly café

   the use of environmentally friendly packaging

4. (in compounds) Compatible with, or not damaging to (the compounded noun).

   The cobbled streets aren't very bike-friendly.

   Organic farms only use soil-friendly fertilisers.

   Our sandwiches are made with dolphin-friendly tuna.

5. Without any hostility.

   a friendly competition

   a friendly power or state

   • 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter 2, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC ↗:

     in friendly relations with his moderate opponents

6. Promoting the good of any person; favourable; propitious.

   a friendly breeze or gale

   • 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC ↗, Act I, scene iv, page 10 ↗:

     Coarſe are his Meals, the Fortune of the Chaſe, / Amidſt the running Stream he ſlakes his Thirſt, / Toil's all the Day, and at th' approach of Night / On the firſt friendly Bank he throws him down, / Or reſts his Head upon a Rock 'till Morn: […]

7. (usually, military) Of or pertaining to friendlies (friendly noun sense 2, below). Also applied to other bipolar confrontations, such as team sports.

   The soldier was killed by friendly fire.

8. (number theory) Being or relating to two or more natural numbers with a common abundancy.

   friendly

   friendly pairs

   friendly n-tuples

• hostile
• unfriendly
• non-friendly, nonfriendly

• French: amical, amicale, aimable, gentil, gentille
• German: freundlich
• Italian: amichevole, accogliente
• Portuguese: amigável, amistoso
• Russian: дружелю́бный
• Spanish: amistoso, amigable

• French: amical, amicale, aimable, gentil, gentille
• German: freundlich
• Italian: gentile
• Portuguese: amigável, amigo
• Russian: дру́жественный

• Portuguese: amistoso
• Russian: дру́жественный

• French: allié, alliée
• Portuguese: amigo

friendly (plural friendlies)

1. (sports) A game which is of no consequence in terms of ranking, betting etc.

   This match is merely a friendly, so don't worry too much about it.

2. A person or entity on the same side as one's own in a conflict.
   • 2008, Dennis Wengert, A Very Healthy Insanity, page 44:

     You see, the mission of almost every teenage girl on the loose is to first identify the targets, just like a war. These include the primary objective (the boy), the enemy (other girls), the friendlies (sympathetic girl friends and the boy's family), and unfriendlies (other boys).

• French: ami
• Portuguese: amigo

From Middle English frendly, frendliche, from Old English frēondlīċe, equivalent to friend + -ly.

friendly

1. In a friendly manner; like a friend.
   • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC ↗; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene ii ↗:

     And looke we friendly on them when they come:
     But if they offer word or violence,
     Weele fight fiue hundred men at armes to one,
     Before we part with our poſſeſſion: […]

   • 1646, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica:

     And we cannot doubt, our Brothers in Physick [...] will friendly accept, if not countenance our endeavours.

• amicably, friendlily

• French: amicalement, aimablement, gentiment
• German: freundlich
• Italian: amicamente, amichevolmente
• Portuguese: amigavelmente
• Russian: дружелю́бно