comprehensible

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin comprehēnsibilis (“that can be seized”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from comprehēnsus,^[3][4][5][6] the past participle of comprehendō (“to seize, to comprehend”),^[3][4] which is formed from com- and prehendō (“to grasp”),^[3] with the suffix -ibilis, English -ible.^[5] The Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English take it from either Latin or French compréhensible,^[7][8] a form the OED only compares, noting an earlier comprehensable.^[2] The Shorter Oxford notes that incomprehensible is earlier.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

That may be included or contained: 1529, in Thomas More's Dialogue concerning Heresies, which Merriam-Webster quotes as "God … is not comprehensible nor circumscribed".^[2][5] The Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English instead date the word to the late 15th century,^[7][8] and the Shorter Oxford puts "understandable" first and "that may be included" only in the early 16th century.^[7] Etymonline and Dictionary.com give the 1520s.^[6][9]

Semantic evolution

The word follows the two senses of comprehend: to take in physically and to take in with the mind.^[6][2] The OED records a brief sensory use, "palpable", in North's Plutarch of 1579,^[2] and the mental sense, "conceivable, intelligible", in Florio's dictionary of 1598;^[2] Etymonline dates this to about 1600.^[6] The understanding sense then displaced the older one, which Merriam-Webster now labels archaic.^[5] Johnson (1755) gives only "intelligible; attainable by the mind; conceiveable by the understanding", citing Locke.^[10]

Timeline

• 1529 – that may be included or contained, in Thomas More.^[2][5]
• 1579 – palpable, in North's Plutarch (obsolete).^[2]
• 1598 – conceivable, intelligible, in Florio.^[2]
• mid 18th century – the derivatives comprehensibility and comprehensibly.^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Able to be understood; intelligible: She gave a barely comprehensible reply in hurried Spanish.^[11][5][2]
2. (archaic) Able to be included, contained or comprised.^[5][2][7]

Word family

• comprehensibility
• comprehensibly
• comprehensibleness
• noncomprehensible

Related words

• comprehend
• comprehensive
• comprehension
• incomprehensible

References

1. ^ 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 The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins