fondle

English

Etymology

From fond (“love, admire”) +‎ -le (frequentative suffix).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɒndəl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒndəl

Verb

fondle (third-person singular simple present fondles, present participle fondling, simple past and past participle fondled)

1. (transitive) To touch or stroke lovingly.

   Synonyms: dandle, pet, touch up; see also Thesaurus:fondle

   Mothers fondle their babies.

2. (transitive) To grasp.

   Synonyms: clutch, grab, nim; see also Thesaurus:grasp

   The lovers fondled each other.

Derived terms

• fondler
• fondlesome
• fondlingly

Translations

to touch or stroke lovingly

• Albanian: ledhatoj (sq), përkëdhel (sq)
• Arabic: لَاطَفَ (lāṭafa), رَبَتَ (rabata)
• Bulgarian: милвам (bg) (milvam), галя (bg) (galja)
• Catalan: acaronar (ca), acariciar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 愛撫 / 爱抚 (zh) (àifǔ)

• Czech: laskat (cs)
• Dutch: liefkozen (nl)
• Esperanto: karesi (eo)
• Finnish: hyväillä (fi), kosketella (fi)
• French: caresser (fr)
• Galician: afagar, acariñar (gl), aloumiñar (gl), acariciar (gl)
• German: liebkosen (de), kosen (de)
• Irish: muirnigh
• Italian: accarezzare (it), avvinghiarsi
• Japanese: 愛撫する (ja) (あいぶする, aibu suru), 可愛がる (ja) (kawaigaru)
• Korean: 어르다 (ko) (eoreuda)
• Latin: subigitō, contrectō
• Maori: mori, takamori, whakatākohekohe
• Portuguese: acariciar (pt)
• Romanian: dezmierda (ro), mângâia (ro)
• Russian: ласка́ть (ru) impf (laskátʹ), гла́дить (ru) impf (gláditʹ) (stroke), ти́скать (ru) (tískatʹ) (squeeze)
• Slovene: crkljati
• Spanish: acariciar (es)
• Swedish: smeka (sv), kela med
• Telugu: నిమురు (te) (nimuru)
• Welsh: llochi

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “fondle”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Noun

fondle (plural fondles)

1. A caress.

   I gave the sleeping dog's ears a fondle as I walked past.

Anagrams

• Folden, enfold, folden