flexibility

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˌflɛksɪˈbɪlɪti/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French flexibilité (in Old French, weakness, vacillation) or directly from Late Latin flexibilitās, flexibilitātem,^[2][3][4] from Latin flexibilis, pliant, yielding (see flexible).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The capacity to be bent, pliancy, of physical things: 1616, the 1610s in Etymonline.^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

Readiness to yield to influence or persuasion, pliancy of mind, is from 1647,^[5] and the quality of yielding to pressure from 1677 (obsolete).^[5] Of immaterial things, capacity for ready adaptation or modification, it is from 1783.^[2][5] Of the voice or fingers, capacity for free and varied execution, it is from 1795.^[5]

Timeline

• 1616 – pliancy.^[5]
• 1647 – pliancy of mind.^[5]
• 1783 – adaptability.^[5]
• 1795 – of the voice.^[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The ability to bend easily without breaking.
2. The ability to adapt or be changed easily to suit new conditions.
3. Willingness to change or compromise.

Word family

• hyperflexibility

Related words

• flex
• flexible
• inflexible
• reflex

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press