expendable

Etymology

It is formed from English expend + -able.^[2][3][4][5] The verb expend is from Latin expendō (“to pay out, weigh out money”),^[2][3][6][7] from ex- (“out”) and pendō (“to weigh, pay”),^[2][6][7] which Etymonline and the American Heritage Dictionary trace to Proto-Indo-European *(s)pen- (“to draw, stretch, spin”).^[3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

That may be spent or used up: 1805, in W. Taylor's contribution to the Annual Review.^[2][8][3] Dictionary.com dates the word more broadly to 1795–1805.^[5]

Semantic evolution

For more than a century the adjective meant only what can be consumed in use.^[3][2] During the Second World War it took on the sense of something, and especially soldiers, that may be given up to reach an objective: Etymonline dates this use to 1942,^[3] and the Historical Thesaurus files the sense "worthless, unimportant" under the same year.^[9] Dalzell records it as a military and political term from 1942 for casualties whose loss is foreseen and accepted, and calls it a borrowing from accounting.^[10] The noun, usually in the plural, also dates from 1942: Merriam-Webster Unabridged quotes Drew Pearson on the small force left behind to cover a retreat.^[8]

Timeline

• 1805 – that may be expended; normally used up in use.^[2][8]
• 1942 – of soldiers and others, that may be sacrificed to gain an objective; not worth keeping.^[3][9][10]
• 1942 – noun, a person or thing that is expendable.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Normally used up or consumed in use; not meant to be reused: expendable supplies such as paper clips and toner.^[8][11][12]
2. Cheaper to replace than to rescue, salvage or protect.^[8][11]
3. Not essential; dispensable: The manager decided that the extra staff were expendable.^[12][11][4]
4. Able to be sacrificed to achieve an objective, especially a military one.^[12][8][2]

Noun

1. A person or thing that is expendable; usually in the plural.^[8][12][11]

Word family

• expendability
• nonexpendable
• unexpendable

Related words

• expend
• expense
• spend
• pendant
• pound

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g 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. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
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 Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
10. ^ a b Dalzell, Tom; Victor, Terry, eds. (2013), The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, 2nd ed., London: Routledge
11. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
12. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins