doable

Etymology

It is formed from English do + -able,^[2][3][4][5] in Middle English from the verb don (“to do”),^[6][7] which is from Old English dōn (“to make, act, perform; to put, place”),^[3] from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to set, put, place”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of an action, able to be done; within one's power, feasible: about 1443, in R. Pecock's Reule of Crysten Religioun, where "ech oþere good dede doable" is listed among good works.^[2][7] Etymonline dates it to the mid-15th century,^[3] and the 1989 edition of the OED to about 1449.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Pecock used the word repeatedly in his treatises of the 1440s and 1450s.^[7] From 1843, in Carlyle, it was also used as a noun, the doable, that which can be done,^[2] and in 1849 Surtees used it for "able to be swindled", from do in the sense "to cheat", a use that did not survive.^[2] In Lincolnshire and Worcestershire dialect it meant practicable.^[9] In American slang it is recorded in 1997 for sexually attractive.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 1443 – able to be done; feasible.^[2][7]
• 1843 – noun, with the, that which can be done.^[2]
• 1849 – able to be swindled (obsolete, rare).^[2]
• 1997 – US slang, sexually attractive.^[10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Able to be done; feasible or practicable: With two more helpers, the move is doable in a day.^{[6][11][4][2]}
2. (US, slang) Sexually attractive.^[10][1]

Noun

1. Something that can be done; a practical task.^[2][1]

Related words

• do
• deed

Usage notes

Grammarphobia (2006) agreed that doable is much overused and that practicable or feasible is often better, but defended it as a legitimate word in use for over five centuries, without an exact equivalent.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b c 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 d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ 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)
8. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
10. ^ a b c Dalzell, Tom; Victor, Terry, eds. (2013), The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, 2nd ed., London: Routledge
11. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
12. ^ O'Conner, Patricia T.; Kellerman, Stewart, The Grammarphobia Blog, grammarphobia.com, p. "Much ado about “doable”", 21 November 2006