adorable

Pronunciation

• IPA: /əˈdɔːɹəbəl/ (UK); /əˈdoɹ.əˌbəl/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French adorable, from Latin adōrābilis, worthy of worship,^[2][3][4] from adōrāre, to worship (see adore),^[2][5] with the suffix -bilis (see -able).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Worthy of worship or divine honour: 1611 in the OED, the 1610s in Etymonline.^[6][2]

Semantic evolution

The weakened sense, delightful, charming, said by exaggeration of anything one is passionately attached to, is recorded from 1710.^[2][6] The religious sense is now rare.^[4][7]

Timeline

• 1611 – worthy of worship.^[6]
• 1710 – delightful, charming.^[6]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Delightful, lovable and charming.
2. (rare) Worthy of adoration.

Word family

• adorability
• adorably
• adorableness
• unadorable

Related words

• adore
• adoration

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins