adaptable

Etymology

It is formed from English adapt + -able.^[2][3][4][5] The OED compares Medieval Latin adaptabilis, recorded from 1538 or earlier.^[2] Adapt is from Middle French adapter and adaptō (“to make fit, adjust”),^[2][3] from ad- (“to”) and aptō (“to fit, join”), from aptus (“fitted”).^[3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Capable of being modified or applied in different conditions: 1692, in W. Bulstrode's essay on transmigration.^[2][5] Etymonline dates the word to the 1680s, "capable of being made to fit by alteration".^[3]

Semantic evolution

In its first century the word was said of things that could be modified or put to a new use, from 1718 also with to or for.^[2] The sense "able to adjust to new conditions or to a changing environment" is recorded from 1800, in a translation of Herder.^[2][7] The Shorter Oxford dates the word only to the early 19th century^[8] and Dictionary.com to 1790–1800,^[4] both later than the OED's revised entry of 2011.^[2]

Timeline

• 1692 – capable of being modified or applied to different uses.^[2][5] Etymonline dates the word to the 1680s.^[3]
• 1718 – with to or for, suitable for a purpose after change.^[2]
• 1800 – able to adjust to new conditions.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Able to adjust to new conditions or surroundings: Goats are adaptable animals that thrive on poor land.^[7][9][5][2]
2. Able to be modified for a new use or purpose: a sofa adaptable as a spare bed.^[7][9][5][2]
3. Suitable without change.^[5]

Word family

• adaptability
• nonadaptable
• unadaptable

Related words

• adapt
• adaptation
• apt
• aptitude

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b c Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press