interchangeable

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English enterchaungeable, also entrechaungeable,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Middle French entrechangeable,^[4][5][6] from Old French entrechangier (“to interchange, exchange”) and the suffix -able.^[4][5] The French verb is formed from entre- (“between”) and changier (“to change”),^[7] which goes back to Late Latin cambiō (“to barter, exchange”).^[7] The English spelling was later altered under the influence of the Latin prefix inter-;^[4] Dictionary.com takes the modern word as formed from interchange and -able, replacing the Middle English form.^[8] The OED notes that modern French interchangeable, recorded from 1870, is perhaps from English.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Mutual, reciprocal: about 1380, in Chaucer, recorded in a manuscript from before 1425: "Thus maketh Love entrechaungeable the perdurable courses".^[2][3] Etymonline dates the word to the late 14th century;^[7] the OED's first record is about 1450.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The first sense, "mutual, reciprocal", was used until the mid 17th century.^[5][6] In the 16th century the word was applied to things following each other in turn (alternating, successive, 1561–1783) and to one thing that is liable to change (changeable, 1574–1749);^[5] both senses are now obsolete.^[5][4] The modern sense, of two things that can be put or used in each other's place, appears in the 1560s^[7][5] and is the one that survives; from 1826 it was also used of goods that can be exchanged or bartered.^[5] Johnson (1755) gave "given and taken mutually" as the first sense.^[9] C. Lamb used interchangeables as a noun in 1822.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1380 – mutual, reciprocal, in Chaucer (obsolete by 1665).^[2][5]
• 1465 – as an adverb, mutually (obsolete).^[5]
• 1561 – alternating, successive (obsolete).^[5]
• before 1569 – capable of being put or used in each other's place.^[5]
• 1574 – of one thing, changeable (obsolete).^[5]
• 1822 – interchangeables, as a plural noun.^[5]
• 1826 – capable of being exchanged or bartered.^[5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Able to be interchanged or used in place of each other without loss of function: The two cables are interchangeable.^[4][6][5]
2. Able to be exchanged or bartered.^[5]
3. (obsolete, 1450–1665) Mutual, reciprocal.^[4][5][6]
4. (obsolete, 1561–1783) Following each other in turn; alternating.^[4][5]
5. (obsolete, 1574–1749) Changeable, variable.^[4][5]

Word family

• interchangeability
• interchangeably
• interchangeableness
• noninterchangeable
• uninterchangeable

Related words

• interchange
• change
• exchange
• changeable

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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)
3. ^ a b Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.