identifiable

Etymology

It is formed from English identify + -able.^[2][3][4] The verb identify is from French identifier, from Medieval Latin identificō (“to treat as identical”), from identitās (“identity”) and -ficō.^[2][5][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Able to be identified or recognized: 1804, in the Edinburgh Review,^[2][3][6] a little after identify came to mean "to establish the identity of", recorded by 1769.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The meaning has stayed the same since 1804.^[2] The noun identifiability followed in the late 19th century,^[4] and the adverb identifiably is also recorded.^[3][6]

Timeline

• 1769 – identify, to establish the identity of.^[3]
• 1804 – identifiable, able to be identified.^[2][3][6]
• late 19th century – identifiability.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Able to be identified, recognized or told apart from others: The suspect was identifiable from the camera footage.^[6][2][7]

Word family

• unidentifiable

Related words

• identify
• identity
• identification

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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 c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House