commendable

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old French commendable^[2][3][4][5] and directly borrowed from Latin commendābilis (“praiseworthy”),^[3][2] formed from commendō (“to commit to one's care; to praise”) and -bilis.^[6][7][8] Merriam-Webster gives the immediate source as Middle French.^[6][7] The Anglo-Norman commendable, also comendable, is recorded from 1403 with the senses "praiseworthy", "reputable" and "suitable".^[9] The Latin verb, the source of commend, is formed from com-, here perhaps an intensive prefix, and mandō (“to commit to one's charge”);^[3] Etymonline calls the English verb a doublet of command.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Deserving praise or approval: about 1386, in Chaucer's Tale of Melibee,^[2][10] where the spelling is comendable.^[11] Etymonline dates the word to the mid-14th century,^[3] and the Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English to late Middle English.^[8][5]

Semantic evolution

The main sense has not changed since Chaucer.^[2][8] In 1576 the word was also used for "commendatory", serving to commend, a sense now obsolete.^[2][10] From 1654 to 1676 it was also a noun, a commendable thing or quality.^[2] Johnson (1755) defined it as "laudable; worthy of praise", quoting Shakespeare and Bacon, and noted that it had once been stressed on the first syllable.^[12] The OED explains that the French origin gave the older stresses, commenˈdable and ˈcommendable, the latter still Shakespeare's; the stress on the second syllable, which Walker thought vulgar, has since prevailed.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1386 – deserving praise, laudable, in Chaucer.^[2][10]
• 1576 – commendatory (obsolete).^[2][10]
• 1654 – noun, a commendable thing or quality (until 1676).^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Deserving praise or approval; laudable: Her patience with the new recruits was commendable.^[6][8][2]

Word family

• noncommendable
• uncommendable

Related words

• commend
• commendation
• commendatory
• command
• mandate
• recommend

Usage notes

The stress has moved: Shakespeare usually stressed the first syllable, Johnson called this obsolete, and the modern stress is on the second syllable.^[2][12]

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. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
8. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
10. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
12. ^ 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.