able

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈeɪ.bəl/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English able, borrowed from Old French able or hable (“capable, fitting, nimble”),^[2][3][4] from Latin habilis (“easily handled, apt”),^[2][3][5] from habēre (“to have, hold”),^[2][6] from Proto-Indo-European *ghabh- (“to give or receive”).^[2][6] Merriam-Webster gives the route through Anglo-French.^[7] The h never took hold in English, though scholars tried to restore it in the 16th and 17th centuries;^[3][2] instead habile was refashioned from Latin in the 15th century and survives as a separate word, a doublet of able.^[3][8] The suffix -able is a different word, though influenced by this one.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Having sufficient power or means: early 14th century according to Etymonline,^[2] about 1375 according to Barnhart.^[3] It also meant “easy to handle or use” and “suitable”.^[10][4]

Semantic evolution

The senses “easy to handle” and “suitable, competent” lasted into the 18th century.^[4] The sense “gifted, talented” is from 1520,^[11] and a regional sense “wealthy, influential” from 1516, now confined to northern English.^[11] A verb able “to make fit, enable, empower” and also “to dress” was used from Middle English into the 19th century.^[4][11] In the phonetic alphabet of the Second World War Able stood for the letter A (1942).^[11][5] Derivatives such as habilitate kept the h, but ability lost it.^[3] The jargon abled, as in differently abled, was formed in the 1980s from disabled.^[10]

Timeline

• early 14th century – having power or means.^[2]
• c. 1375 – Barnhart's first date.^[3]
• 15th century – habile refashioned from Latin.^[3]
• 1516 – wealthy, influential.^[11]
• 1520 – gifted, talented.^[11]
• 1942 – Able, the letter A in signalling.^[11][5]
• 1980s – differently abled.^[10]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Having the power, skill or means to do something: able to swim.
2. Especially capable or talented.

Word family

• ably
• ability
• able-bodied
• ableism
• aiblins
• disability
• disable
• disabled

Related words

• -able
• -ible
• habile
• habit
• enable
• unable

Usage notes

RHWU distinguishes able, having the power to do what is needed, from capable, able to meet ordinary requirements, and competent, able to meet demands fully and satisfactorily.^[12] The AHD advises against able to where no ability is really being ascribed to the subject, as in some passive constructions.^[13]

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
7. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c d e f g Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
12. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
13. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin