amicable

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English amicable,^[2][3] borrowed from Late Latin amīcābilis (“friendly, peaceable”),^{[4][5][6][7][8][9]} a term of Roman law according to Etymonline.^[7] The OED records the Latin adjective from the 6th century, and of things, "congenial", from the 13th.^[4] It is formed from amīcus (“friend”) and -ābilis,^[4][10] and amīcus is related to amō (“to love”).^{[6][9][8][11]} The same Latin word came through French as amiable, so the two are doublets.^[6][7][11] The term amicable number follows New Latin numerī amīcābilēs (Frans van Schooten, 1657).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a substance or thing, agreeable or benign: before about 1425, in an English translation of Guy de Chauliac's Grande Chirurgie, where natural blood is "amicable", that is friendly, in taste.^[4][2] Etymonline glosses the early sense "pleasant".^[7]

Semantic evolution

The first sense, used of things, became obsolete; the OED's last record is from 1917.^[4][12] From before 1475 the word described an arrangement or agreement made without discord, especially after a dispute: the Godstow Register speaks of "an amicable composicion" between the abbess and a tenant.^[4][2] The general sense "friendly, good-natured" of people followed in 1532.^[4] Johnson (1755) defined it as "friendly; kind" and noted that it was mostly said of more than one person, as of people living in an amicable manner, and seldom of a single action or man.^[13] Today it stresses the absence of quarrelling or hostility, as in an amicable divorce or settlement.^[3][7][9]

Timeline

• c. 1425 – of a thing, agreeable, pleasant, benign (now obsolete).^[4][2]
• before 1475 – of an agreement, made without discord.^[4][2]
• 1532 – of people, friendly, good-natured.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Marked by goodwill and free of quarrelling or hostility; peaceable: The two neighbours reached an amicable settlement over the fence.^[3][9][4]
2. Of a person, friendly and good-natured.^[4][13]
3. amicable numbers (mathematics): a pair of numbers each of which is the sum of the factors of the other, such as 220 and 284.^[12][4]
4. (obsolete, 1425–1917) Of a thing, agreeable or benign.^[4][2][12]

Word family

• amicability
• amicably
• amicableness
• unamicable
• amicable number

Related words

• amiable
• amity
• enemy
• inimical

Usage notes

Merriam-Webster Unabridged distinguishes it from friendly and neighborly: amicable stresses the lack of quarrelling, bitterness or hostility.^[3]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
11. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
12. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.