docile

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin docilis (“easily taught”),^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} or, according to the OED, borrowed from French docile, recorded in French from the 16th century.^[8][4] Barnhart suspects a passage through Italian docile, and Etymonline names Italian or French.^[9][10] The Latin adjective is formed from doceō (“to teach, show”) and -ilis,^[3][6] and that verb is the causative of decet (“it is seemly, fitting”),^[10][3] from Proto-Indo-European *dek- (“to take, accept”).^[10][2][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Easily taught, ready to learn: 1483, in Caxton's Golden Legende.^[8][9][10]

Semantic evolution

The word first described a good pupil, and the idea of learning gave way to that of obeying.^[8][7][4] In 1647 a translation of Juvenal has it followed by to or an infinitive.^[8] From 1706 it is transferred to things that yield readily to treatment.^[8] Johnson (1755) still put "teachable; easily instructed" first, but added "tractable".^[12] The sense "submissive, easily managed" is first recorded in 1774, in Goldsmith's History of the Earth,^[8][9][10] and has since become the main one: the Shorter Oxford and Collins now call "apt to learn" rare.^[4][13] Middle English had a separate adjective docible, "ready or willing to teach", from about 1400.^[10]

Timeline

• 1483 – ready and willing to be taught.^[8][9]
• 1647 – followed by to or an infinitive (rare).^[8]
• 1706 – of things, yielding readily to treatment.^[8]
• 1774 – submissive to training, tractable, in Goldsmith.^[8][9][10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Easily led, managed or controlled; submissive, tractable: The old mare was docile enough for the children to ride.^[13][3][8]
2. Of things, easily handled or dealt with.^[8]
3. (rare) Ready and willing to learn; easy to teach.^[13][4][8]

Word family

• docilely
• docility

Related words

• docent
• doctor
• doctorate
• doctrinaire
• doctrinal
• doctrine
• document
• indoctrinate
• decent
• docible

Usage notes

Merriam-Webster notes that the pronunciation usual in Britain, /ˈdəʊsaɪl/, is only occasional in the United States, where /ˈdɑsəl/ is the main form.^[3][8]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
3. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
10. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
13. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins