liable

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈlaɪ̯əbəl/^[1]

Etymology

It is probably formed with -able from Old French lier (“to bind, tie”),^[2][3][4] from Latin ligō (“to bind, tie”) (see ligament),^[2][3] from Proto-Indo-European *leyǵ- (“to tie, bind”).^[3] It may come from an unrecorded *liable,^[3][5] but Hoad points out that its late appearance and absence from Anglo-French and Anglo-Latin records would then be hard to explain.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Bound or obliged by law: 1450 in Barnhart, the mid-15th century in Etymonline;^[2][3] the OED's first quotation is from 1542–3.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Exposed to or likely to suffer something unpleasant is from 1593,^[2][7][3] and subject to the possibility of doing or undergoing something from 1682.^[2][7] The use for simply ‘likely’, called unetymological by Etymonline, is attested by 1850, and the OED marks it as dialectal and American.^[3][7] The noun liability is from the late 18th century.^[2][6]

Timeline

• 1450 – bound by law.^[2]
• 1593 – exposed to something harmful.^[2][7]
• 1682 – subject to the possibility of.^[2]
• 1850 – likely.^[3]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Legally responsible; answerable for something.
2. At risk of, or subject to, something unpleasant: liable to flooding.
3. Likely to do something, especially something undesirable: it's liable to happen soon.

Word family

• nonliable
• unliable

Related words

• liability
• oblige
• reliable
• ligament
• ally
• rely
• league

Usage notes

Collins and the AHD discuss the use of liable to for likely to, which some careful writers restrict to unfavourable outcomes.^[8][9] In Cumberland, Yorkshire and the south-west, liable meant apt or inclined to (he's liable to get drunk), and in Cumberland and West Yorkshire also reliable.^[10]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
10. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)