convertible

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old French convertible (“interchangeable”),^[2][3][4][5] recorded in Anglo-Norman from the late 13th century,^[6] and directly borrowed from Late Latin convertibilis (“changeable”),^[2][7][3] which Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com call Medieval Latin.^[8][9] The Latin adjective is from convertō (“to turn around, transform”),^[2][3][8] with the suffix -bilis,^[8][9] and the verb is from com- (“with, together”) and vertō (“to turn”),^[2] from Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to turn, bend”).^[2] It is related to convert and conversion.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Interchangeable, able to change places with each other, especially of terms that mean the same: about 1386, in Chaucer's Cook's Tale.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

The sense of being interchangeable, used of terms, led to the logical sense of a proposition that can be transposed by conversion, from 1609.^[3] From 1533 the adjective meant more widely "capable of being changed in form, condition or properties",^[3][2] and briefly (1526–1625) "capable of being turned".^[3] Johnson (1755) defined it as "susceptible of change; transmutable".^[10] The 19th century added uses in farming (convertible husbandry, a rotation in which pasture becomes cornland, 1811), in religion (1805), and in finance: paper money exchangeable for coin or gold (1834) and bonds or stock that can be exchanged for shares (1869).^[3][2] The noun is recorded from 1615 for things or terms that are interchangeable;^[3][8][2] its best-known sense, a car with a folding or removable roof, began in American English in 1916,^[3][2] and a convertible bond has been called a convertible since 1957.^[3] American gay slang used the adjective for "bisexual" by 1972.^[11]

Timeline

• c. 1386 – interchangeable; of terms, synonymous.^[3][2]
• 1526 – capable of being turned (obsolete by 1625).^[3]
• 1533 – capable of being changed in form or condition.^[3][2]
• 1609 – in logic, transposable by conversion.^[3]
• 1615 – noun, convertible things or terms.^[3][8]
• 1811 – convertible husbandry, crop rotation.^[3]
• 1834 – of paper money, exchangeable for coin.^[3][2]
• 1869 – of bonds, exchangeable for shares.^[3]
• 1916 – noun, a car with a folding or removable roof, originally in the US.^[3][2]
• 1957 – noun, a convertible bond.^[3]
• 1972 – US gay slang, bisexual.^[11]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Able to be changed into another form, condition or use: a convertible sofa that opens into a bed.^[12][8][3]
2. Of a car, having a folding or removable roof.^[12][3]
3. In finance, of a bond or debenture, exchangeable for shares at a fixed price; of a currency, exchangeable for gold or for other currencies.^[12][3]
4. Interchangeable; of terms, equivalent in meaning; in logic, able to be transposed by conversion.^[8][3][5]

Noun

1. A car with a folding or removable roof: They drove along the coast in a red convertible.^[12][8][3]
2. A convertible bond or other security.^[3]
3. A thing or term that is convertible, especially a convertible term in logic.^[8][3]

Word family

• convertibility
• convertibly
• convertibleness
• nonconvertible
• convertible security

Related words

• convert
• conversion

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b 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. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
12. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins