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ability

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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
  • 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