affable

English

WOTD – 4 January 2009

Etymology

Frenchaffable,Latinaffābilis,fromaffor(“I address”),fromad+for(“speak, talk”).Seefable.

Pronunciation

• (UK,US)IPA^(key):/ˈæf.ə.bəl/

• Audio(US):

  (file)

• Audio(General Australian):

  (file)

Adjective

affable(comparativemoreaffable,superlativemostaffable)

1. Receiving others kindly and conversing with them in a free and friendly manner;friendly,courteous,sociable.

   Synonyms:accessible,civil,complaisant,courteous,friendly,gracious,personable

   • 1912,James Burrill Angell, “chapter ix Mission To The Ottoman Empire”, inThe Reminiscences Of James Burrill Angell:

     Furthermore, I may say, that the Sultan was always mostaffableto me in my interviews with him, even when I had to discuss some missionary questions. In fact, I never saw any traces of the difficulties which Mr. Terrell reported.

   • 1961November 10,Joseph Heller,“Chief White Halfoat”, inCatch-22[…],New York, N.Y.:Simon and Schuster,→OCLC,page45:

     […]He stood bolt upright instead with his stumpy arms resting comfortably on the backsof the pilot's and co-pilot's seats, pipe in hand, makingaffablesmall talk to McWatt and whoever happened to be co-pilot and pointing out amusing trivia in the sky to the two men, who were too busy to be interested.

2. Mild;benign.

   Synonyms:benign,mild,warm

   • 1998,Alexia Maria Kosmider,Tricky Tribal Discourse,page84:

     During moreaffableweather, the four friends congregate outside, sometimes leaning their hickory chairs against a "catapa" tree[…]

Antonyms

• inaffable
• unaffable

Derived terms

• affability
• affableness
• affably

Related terms

• fable
• fabulous
• fame
• fandango
• fatal
• fate
• fatuous
• fay
• ineffable
• infamous
• infamy
• infant
• infantile
• infantry
• nefarious
• preface

Translations

friendly, courteous, sociable

• Azerbaijani:gülərüz
• Bulgarian:приветлив(bg)(privetliv),вежлив(bg)(vežliv),любезен(bg)(ljubezen),внимателен(bg)(vnimatelen)
• Czech:vlídný(cs),přívětivý(cs)
• Dutch:gemoedelijk(nl),welwillend(nl)
• Esperanto:afabla(eo)
• Finnish:mukava(fi)
• French:aimable(fr)
• Galician:afábel(gl)
• German:umgänglich(de),affabel(de),freundlich(de),nett(de),leutselig(de)
• Italian:affabile(it)
• Kazakh:жайдары(jaidary)
• Latin:affābilis
• Maori:wahawaha,hoahoa,takahoahoa,whakahoahoa,hūmārie,ratarata
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål:hyggelig(no),vennlig(no),elskverdig

• Plautdietsch:schaftich
• Polish:sympatyczny(pl),arcymiły(pl)
• Portuguese:afável(pt)
• Romanian:cordial(ro),afabil(ro)
• Russian:приве́тливый(ru)(privétlivyj)
• Scottish Gaelic:suairce
• Spanish:afable(es)
• Swedish:älskvärd(sv),förbindlig(sv),vänlig(sv)
• Turkish:arkadaş canlısı(tr)
• Ukrainian:привітнийm(pryvitnyj),люб'язнийm(ljubʺjaznyj)

mild; benign

• Czech:vlídný(cs),přívětivý(cs)
• French:doux(fr)
• German:umgänglich(de)
• Italian:bonario(it),amabile(it)
• Norwegian:velvillig(no),hyggelig(no)
• Polish:życzliwy(pl)
• Russian:любе́зный(ru)(ljubéznyj)
• Scottish Gaelic:tlàth
• Spanish:amable(es),tranquilo(es)
• Turkish:içten(tr)

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “affable”,inOnline Etymology Dictionary.

French

Etymology

BorrowedfromLatinaffābilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):/a.fabl/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes:-abl
• Homophone:affables

Adjective

affable(pluralaffables)

1. affable,amicable,sociable

Related terms

• affablement
• affabuler
• affabilité

Further reading

• “affable”,inTrésor de la langue française informatisé[Digitized Treasury of the French Language],2012.