ability

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /əˈbɪl.ə.ti/, US /əˈbɪl.ə.t̬i/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English ablete, later abilite,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French ableté (“ability (to inherit)”),^[4][2] from Latin habilitās (“aptitude”),^[4][2] from habilis (“easy to manage, handy, apt”),^[4][2][5] the source of able.^[4][2] In the 1400s the spelling ablete gave way to abilite, after Old French habilité, a learned borrowing from Latin.^[2][3] The Latin h was never established in English:^[2] although 16th- and 17th-century scholars such as Bacon, More and Hooker wrote it, the attempt was dropped by the end of the 1600s.^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Suitableness, fitness: about 1380,^[6] a sense now obsolete;^[6][7] “capacity to act” is from the late 14th century,^[4] about 1391 in the OED,^[6] and Barnhart's first example is from before 1398, in Trevisa's translation of Bartholomew's De Proprietatibus Rerum.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In the 16th century the word also meant wealth or means, from 1502,^[6] a sense that survived in Scots and in a proverb comparing gentility without ability to a pudding without suet;^[8] bodily strength is from 1549, still common in Scotland when the OED was written.^[6] Legal capacity is from 1528.^[6] The mental sense, talent or cleverness, is from 1604,^[6] and abilities, one's talents or mental endowments, from the 1580s.^[4][6] Johnson (1755) defined ability as the power to do anything, whether depending on skill, riches or strength.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 1380 – suitableness, fitness.^[6]
• before 1398 – capacity to act.^[2]
• 1502 – wealth, means.^[6]
• 1528 – legal capacity.^[6]
• 1549 – bodily strength.^[6]
• 1580s – abilities, talents.^[4]
• 1604 – mental power, cleverness.^[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The quality of being able to do something; physical, mental, financial or legal power to act.
2. A natural or acquired skill or talent.

Word family

• notability
• subability
• ability grouping

Related words

• able
• habilitate
• rehabilitate
• inability
• disability

Usage notes

Ability is the general word for the power, mental or physical, to do something;^[10] capacity stresses an inborn potential for growth, faculty an inherent power, talent an inborn gift, especially in the arts, and skill ability gained through practice.^[10]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin