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-able

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also:able

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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InheritedfromMiddle English-able,borrowedfromOld French-able,fromLatin-ābilis,from-a-or-i-+-bilis(“capable or worthy of being acted upon”),fromProto-Indo-Europeani-stem form*-dʰli-of*-dʰlom(“instrumental suffix”).Not closely related etymologically, though currently related semantically, toable.Displaced nativeOld English-endlīc.

Pronunciation

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Suffix

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-able

  1. Anadjectivalsuffix;forms adjectives meaning:
    1. Ableto bedone;fit to be done.
      movable:able to be moved
      amendable:able to be amended
      breakable:liable to broken
      blamable:fit to be blamed
      salable:fit to be sold
    2. Relevant to or suitable to, in accordance with.
      fashionable:relevant to fashion
      seasonable:suitable to season
    3. Giving, or inclined to.
      pleasurable:giving pleasure
      peaceable:inclined to peace
    4. Subject to.
      reportable:subject to be reported
      taxable:subject to be taxed
    5. Due to be.
      payable:due to be paid

Usage notes

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  • Originally appeared only on French and Latin words, likeseparable.Over time-ablewas added to stems of English verbs ending in-ate,such aseducable.Finally, due to probable confusion with the wordable,it was used to form adjectives from all sorts of verbs, nouns, and even verb phrases, such askickable,get-at-able,andhittable.
  • A terminal silent-eis often dropped when adding-able,but for roots ending with a soft-ceor-ge,such asreplaceableandchangeable,the-eis kept so that these are not misinterpreted as hard ‘c’ or ‘g’ sounds. Similar spelling patterns apply to some other suffixes beginning with a vowel, such as-ousinfamousvs.courageous.
  • The final consonant of a root is doubled in the same contexts as when adding the suffix-ed.In general, this means doubling occurs when the preceding vowel is short and stressed (as inwinnable) but not when it is long (as inobtainable) or unstressed (as inopenable). In British English, a final L is typically doubled after a short vowel regardless of whether the vowel is stressed or unstressed (as incompellable,modellable). In American English, final L typically follows the same rules as other consonants (as incompellable,modelable). These are the general trends, but there is some variation within British and American English between these two methods of doubling final L.
  • The form-ibleusually has the same senses and pronunciation, though sometimes equivalent terms have diverged in meaning: comparesuggestable(“capable of being suggested”)withsuggestible(“susceptible to influence by suggestion”).The choice between the two is somewhat idiosyncratic, but in general,-ibleis used in forms derived from Latin verbs of the second, third, and fourth conjugations, and in a few words whose roots end in a softcorg,while-ableis used in all other words, particularly those formed from Latin verbs of the first conjugation and those that come from French or from Anglo-Saxon (Old English). Fowler'sEnglish Usagerecommends using-iblefor simplicity's sake inanyword whose root ends in a softcorgto avoid-eable(e.g.,*changiblerather thanchangeable), but this recommendation has generally not been followed.
  • A number of adjectives in-ablecome from verbs that do not have direct objects, but that rather are construed with prepositions. In these cases, the preposition does not appear with the adjective in-able;hence,reliable(“fit to beingreliedon”),laughable(“suited forlaughingat”),remarkable(“fit to beremarkedupon”),and so on.
  • Traditionally, verbs ending in-atedrop this suffix before adding-able;hence,communicable(“able to becommunicated”),eradicable(“possible toeradicate”),implacable(“unable to beplacated”),inimitable(“unable to beimitated”),and so on, butrelatable,becauserelateisre-+-late,notrel-+-ate.Logically one should therefore sayrotableto mean "able to be rotated", butrotatablehas become accepted.
  • There are cases where a word withun--ableis much more common than one with just-able,such asunbreakable,unsinkable,anduntouchable.

Derived terms

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English terms suffixed with -able
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Translations

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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions atWiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Anagrams

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Asturian

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Etymology

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FromLatin-ābilis.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key):/ˈable/,[ˈa.β̞le]

Suffix

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-able(epicene,adjective-forming suffix,plural-ables)

  1. -able

Derived terms

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Asturian terms suffixed with -able

Catalan

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Etymology

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DerivedfromLatin-ābilis.

Pronunciation

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This entry needs anaudio pronunciation.If you are a native speaker with a microphone, pleaserecord this word.The recorded pronunciationwill appear herewhen it's ready.

Suffix

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-ablemorf(adjective-forming suffix,masculine and feminine plural-ables)

  1. -able

Usage notes

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  • This suffix is used for verbs of thefirst conjugation,which end in-arand are the most common. For other verbs, the suffix is-ible.

Derived terms

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Catalan terms suffixed with -able

References

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French

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Etymology

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    Etymology tree
    Proto-Indo-European*gʰeh₁bʰ-
    Proto-Italic*haβēō
    Latinhabeō
    Proto-Indo-European*-dʰlis
    Proto-Italic*-ðlis
    Latin-bilis
    Latin-ibilis
    Old French-able
    Middle French-able
    French-able

    InheritedfromMiddle French-able,fromOld French-able,fromLatin-ābilis.

    Pronunciation

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    This entry needs anaudio pronunciation.If you are a native speaker with a microphone, pleaserecord this word.The recorded pronunciationwill appear herewhen it's ready.
    Particularly: "extra-Metropolitan"

    Suffix

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    -able(plural-ables)

    1. -able

    Derived terms

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    French terms suffixed with -able

    Galician

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    Alternative forms

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    Etymology

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    InheritedfromLatin-ābilis.

    Pronunciation

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    This entry needs pronunciation information. If you are familiar with theIPAthen please add some!
    This entry needs anaudio pronunciation.If you are a native speaker with a microphone, pleaserecord this word.The recorded pronunciationwill appear herewhen it's ready.

    Suffix

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    -ablemorf(adjective-forming suffix,plural-ables)

    1. -able

    Derived terms

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    From

    Galician terms suffixed with -able

    .

    Middle English

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    Alternative forms

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    Etymology

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    BorrowedfromOld French-able,fromLatin-ābilis.

    Pronunciation

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    • IPA(key):/-ˈaːbəl/,/-ˈaːblə/

    Suffix

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    -able

    1. Forming adjectives denotingability,relevanceorinclination;-able.

    Derived terms

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    Middle English terms suffixed with -able

    Descendants

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    • English:-able
    • Scots:-able

    References

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    Middle French

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    Etymology

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      Etymology tree
      Proto-Indo-European*gʰeh₁bʰ-
      Proto-Italic*haβēō
      Latinhabeō
      Proto-Indo-European*-dʰlis
      Proto-Italic*-ðlis
      Latin-bilis
      Latin-ibilis
      Old French-able
      Middle French-able

      InheritedfromOld French-able,fromLatin-ābilis.

      Pronunciation

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      This entry needs pronunciation information. If you are familiar with theIPAthen please add some!

      Suffix

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      -able(plural-ables)

      1. -able

      Descendants

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      References

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      Norwegian Bokmål

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      Alternative forms

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      Etymology

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      See the etymology of the correspondinglemmaform.

      Pronunciation

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      Suffix

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      -able

      1. singulardefinite&pluralform of-abel

      Anagrams

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      Old French

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      Etymology

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        Etymology tree
        Proto-Indo-European*gʰeh₁bʰ-
        Proto-Italic*haβēō
        Latinhabeō
        Proto-Indo-European*-dʰlis
        Proto-Italic*-ðlis
        Latin-bilis
        Latin-ibilis
        Old French-able

        InheritedfromLatin-ābilis.

        Pronunciation

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        This entry needs pronunciation information. If you are familiar with theIPAthen please add some!

        Suffix

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        -able(plural-ables)

        1. worthy of, deserving of
          ‎honorer(“to honor”)+ ‎-able→ ‎honnorable(“honorable”)
        2. -ing,creating an effect, an influence
          ‎forsener(“to become insane or enraged”)+ ‎-able→ ‎forsenable(“maddening”)

        Descendants

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        References

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        Spanish

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        Etymology

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        InheritedfromOld Spanish-abile,fromLatin-ābilis.

        Pronunciation

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        Suffix

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        -ablemorf(adjective-forming suffix,masculine and feminine plural-ables)

        1. -able

        Derived terms

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        Spanish terms suffixed with -able

        Further reading

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        Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=-able&oldid=82780379"