friendly

Etymology 1

From Middle English frendly, freendly, frendely, frendlich, from Old English frēondlīċ, from Proto-Germanic *frijōndlīkaz, equivalent to friend + -ly. Cognate with Saterland Frisian früntelk, fjuntelk (“friendly”), West Frisian freonlik (“friendly”), Dutch vriendelijk (“friendly”), German Low German fründelk, frünnelk (“friendly”), German freundlich (“friendly”).

adj

1. Generally warm, approachable and easy to relate with in character.
   Your cat seems very friendly.
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
   Hariri even nominated Hezbollah-friendly Sleiman Frangieh for the presidency, which by tradition is held by a Maronite Christian; but Hezbollah and Aoun held out, insisting that Aoun would be president or there would be no president at all. October 22, 2016, Rami G Khouri, “Lebanese oligarchy preserves its interests once again”, in Aljazeera
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.
   An offbeat pizza restaurant, which also serves pasta and salads, and bills itself as low-fat and heart-friendly. Has over forty different designer pizza toppings, such as smoked salmon, sour cream and caviar. 2010, Tony Pinchuck, Barbara McCrea, Donald Reid, Ross Velton, The Rough Guide to South Africa, 6th edition, London: Rough Guides, pages 147–148
5. Without any hostility.
   a friendly competition
   a friendly power or state
6. Promoting the good of any person; favourable; propitious.
   a friendly breeze or gale
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.
   It is clear that the firing of very heavy guns, or the enemy's fire in return, would very seriously interfere with an abbatis, or anything of that kind, and it will only be something of the lightest character, or something that is placed at a considerable distance from the friendly fire, the fire of the gun itself, that would remain. 1867-06-03, Jasper Selwyn, “Further Particulars Regarding Moncrieff's Protected Barbette System”, in Journal of the Royal United Service Institution, volume XI, number XLIV, page 256
   The slaughter of one's own troops by being fired into by their friends in rear. We are very much concerned over the question of avoiding loss from the enemy's bullets while passing through the danger zone, but what have we done to avoid our bravest fellows, the survival of the fittest, those who have gotten to the front and have held on to hard-won positions—what have we done to avoid their being shot to pieces by friendly fire? Absolutely nothing that we have ever heard of—and yet this is one of the most serious problems that confronts the leader of troops. Courage before the enemy will quail before a fire from the rear. 1910, P.E.T., “The Franco-German War”, in Journal of the Military Service Institution of the United States, volume XLVI, number CLXV, page 552
8. (number theory) Being or relating to two or more natural numbers with a common abundancy.
   friendly
   friendly pairs
   friendly n-tuples

noun

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.
   Brazil provided a different test from Germany and gave England lessons Southgate will store before he gets his squad together again for friendlies against the Netherlands in Amsterdam and at home to Italy in March. 14 November 2017, Phil McNulty, “England 0-0 Brazil”, in BBC News
2. A person or entity on the same side in a conflict.
   These were speedily routed by the friendlies, who attacked the small force before them in fine style. 1898, Ernest Bennett, The Downfall of the Dervishes
   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). 2008, Dennis Wengert, A Very Healthy Insanity, page 44
   Reports from SMS Kaiser indicate scouting destroyers attacked and destroyed a large submarine to the north. Hipper orders the destroyers to be more careful; the High Seas Fleet is approaching the U-boat patrol line, and he has a feeling they've just sunk a friendly. 17 October 2018, Drachinifel, 19:47 from the start, in Last Ride of the High Seas Fleet - Battle of Texel 1918, archived from the original on 2022-08-04

Etymology 2

From Middle English frendly, frendliche, from Old English frēondlīċe (“in a friendly manner”), equivalent to friend + -ly.

adv

1. (archaic) In a friendly manner, like a friend.
   And we cannot doubt, our Brothers in Physick … will friendly accept, if not countenance our endeavours. 1646, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica