advisable

Etymology

It is formed from English advise + -able.^[2][3][4][5] The OED compares the rare Middle French avisable (“appropriate”) (before 1403) and Anglo-Norman aviseablement (“wisely, prudently”) (before 1415);^[2] the Shorter Oxford takes the isolated 15th-century use from French avisable, and the later word, from the mid 17th century, as formed in English.^[6] Advise is from Anglo-Norman avyser, aviser,^[2] from avis (“opinion”), from the phrase ço m'est à vis, "it seems to me", ultimately from Latin vīsum, the neuter past participle of videō (“to see”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of an action, involving deliberation or judgement: about 1456, in R. Pecock's Book of Faith, a rare and now obsolete use.^[2]

Semantic evolution

After the isolated 15th-century record, the word reappears in 1638, of a course of action that can be recommended: prudent, sensible, expedient.^[2][4] Etymonline dates this sense to the 1640s.^[3] From before 1654 it was also used of a person, open to advice, a sense now rare.^[2][4][3] Johnson (1755) defined it as "prudent; fit to be advised".^[7]

Timeline

• c. 1456 – of an action, involving deliberation (obsolete, rare).^[2]
• 1638 – that can be recommended; prudent, expedient.^[2][4] Etymonline dates it to the 1640s.^[3]
• before 1654 – of a person, open to advice (now rare).^[2] Etymonline dates it to the 1660s.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. To be recommended as a wise course; prudent, sensible or expedient: It is advisable to book a table in summer.^[8][4][2]
2. (rare) Of a person, open to advice.^[4][2][6]

Word family

• advisability
• advisably
• advisableness
• inadvisable
• unadvisable

Related words

• advise
• advice

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins