avoidable

Etymology

It is formed from English avoid + -able.^[2][3][4] The Middle English Dictionary has the Middle English adjective avoidable, from avoiden.^[5][4] Avoid is from Anglo-Norman avoider (“to clear out, withdraw”), a form of Old French esvuidier (“to empty out”).^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Capable of being avoided: about 1454, in a work of Reginald Pecock, who wrote of ignorance that was not avoidable by the doer.^[5] Etymonline dates the word to the mid-15th century,^[3] while the OED's first record is from 1610.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In the 17th and 18th centuries it also meant "to be avoided or shunned", from 1610 to 1744,^[2] and Johnson (1755) defined it as "that which may be avoided, shunned, or escaped".^[6] From before 1677 it was also used, after void, in the sense "liable to be made void", a sense the OED marks as perhaps obsolete.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1454 – capable of being avoided.^[5]
• 1610 – to be avoided or shunned (obsolete by 1744).^[2]
• before 1677 – liable to be made void (perhaps obsolete).^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Able to be avoided or prevented: an avoidable delay.^[4][2][5]
2. (obsolete, 1610–1744) To be shunned.^[2][6]

Word family

• nonavoidable
• avoidably
• avoidability

Related words

• unavoidable
• voidable

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d 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)
6. ^ 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.