-able

Etymology
From, borrowed from , from , from or  + , from  i-stem form  of. Not closely related etymologically, though currently related semantically, to able. Displaced native.

Suffix

 * 1) Able to be done; 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
 * 1) Relevant to or suitable to, in accordance with.
 * fashionable: relevant to fashion
 * seasonable: suitable to season
 * 1) Giving, or inclined to.
 * pleasurable: giving pleasure
 * peaceable: inclined to peace
 * 1) Subject to.
 * reportable: subject to be reported
 * taxable: subject to be taxed
 * 1) Due to be.
 * payable: due to be paid
 * payable: due to be paid

Usage notes

 * Originally appeared only on French and Latin words, like . Over time -able was added to stems of English verbs ending in -ate, such as . Finally, due to probable confusion with the word, it was used to form adjectives from all sorts of verbs, nouns, and even verb phrases, such as , , and.
 * A terminal silent -e is often dropped when adding -able, but for roots ending with a soft -ce or -ge, such as and, the -e is 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 -ous in  vs..
 * The final consonant of a root is doubled in the same contexts as when adding the suffix . In general, this means doubling occurs when the preceding vowel is short and stressed (as in ) but not when it is long (as in ) or unstressed (as in ). In British English, a final L is typically doubled after a short vowel regardless of whether the vowel is stressed or unstressed (as in, ). In American English, final L typically follows the same rules as other consonants (as in , ). 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 usually has the same senses and pronunciation, though sometimes equivalent terms have diverged in meaning: compare  with . The choice between the two is somewhat idiosyncratic, but in general,  is used in forms derived from Latin verbs of the second, third, and fourth conjugations, and in a few words whose roots end in a soft c or g, while  is 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's English Usage recommends using  for simplicity's sake in any word whose root ends in a soft c or g to avoid -eable (e.g.,  rather than ), but this recommendation has generally not been followed.
 * A number of adjectives in come 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 ; hence,, , , and so on.
 * Traditionally, verbs ending in drop this suffix before adding ; hence,, , , , and so on, but , because relate is re- + -late, not rel- + -ate. Logically one should therefore say rotable to mean "able to be rotated", but  has become accepted.
 * There are cases where a word with un- -able is much more common than one with just -able, such as unbreakable, unsinkable, and untouchable.

Translations

 * Arabic: قابل لـ
 * Egyptian Arabic: قابل لـ
 * Armenian: -ի
 * Asturian: -able
 * Catalan: -able, -ible
 * Chinese:
 * Cantonese:
 * Mandarin:
 * Cornish: -adow
 * Czech: -elný
 * Danish: -bar
 * Dutch: ,
 * Esperanto:
 * Finnish: -tava, -tava
 * French: ,
 * Galician: -able, -ábel
 * Georgian: -ადი
 * German: ,
 * Hindi:
 * Hungarian: ,
 * Ido: -ebla
 * Interlingua: -abile, -ibile
 * Italian: -abile, -ibile, -evole
 * Japanese:
 * Latin: -ābilis
 * Low German:
 * German Low German:
 * Malayalam: -ആവുന്ന
 * Middle English: -able
 * Norwegian:
 * Bokmål: ,
 * Old Saxon: -bar
 * Persian:
 * Polish:, -elny
 * Portuguese: ,
 * Romanian: -bil
 * Russian: -я́емый, -а́емый, -и́мый
 * Slovene: -ljiv
 * Spanish: ,
 * Swedish: ,
 * Turkish: -bilir
 * Welsh:


 * Dutch:
 * Finnish: -kelpoinen, -tava, -tava
 * Japanese:
 * Manx: yn-
 * Middle English: -able
 * Norwegian:
 * Bokmål:
 * Portuguese: ,
 * Swedish:


 * Finnish: ,
 * Norwegian:
 * Bokmål:
 * Romanian: -bil
 * Swedish:


 * Finnish: -tava, -tava
 * German: -wert
 * Swedish:


 * Finnish: -tava, -tava
 * French:
 * Norwegian:
 * Bokmål:
 * Swedish:


 * Dutch:  (5)
 * Esperanto:
 * German:
 * Italian: ,
 * Latin: ,
 * Macedonian: (-liv)
 * Romanian:
 * Welsh:
 * West Frisian:

Etymology
From.

Etymology
From.

Usage notes

 * This suffix is used for verbs of the first conjugation, which end in and are the most common. For other verbs, the suffix is.

Etymology
, from, from.

Etymology
From.

Derived terms
From.

Etymology
, from.

Etymology
From, from.

Suffix

 * 1) singular definite & plural form of -abel

Etymology
From.

Etymology
, from.