measurable

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English mesurable,^[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman mesurable (“moderate, reasonable, able to be measured”),^[4][5] also mesurable,^[6][3][7] from Late Latin mēnsūrābilis (“able to be measured; moderate”),^[4][6][3] from Latin mēnsūrō (“to measure”),^[4][6] from mēnsūra (“a measuring, a measure”),^[6][3] from mēnsus, the past participle of mētior (“to measure”),^[6] which Watkins traces to Proto-Indo-European *mē- (“to measure”).^[6] The Anglo-Norman adjective is recorded from the first half of the 12th century, meaning measurable, moderate and restrained.^[5][4] The mathematical sense follows French mesurable as used by Borel in 1898.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Moderate, temperate, especially in diet: about 1330, in Kyng Alisaunder.^[4] Etymonline dates it to about 1300, as "moderate, modest, discreet".^[6]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the usual sense was "moderate": Chaucer uses the word six times, always meaning moderate or discreet.^[8][4] It also meant "of moderate size or quantity", a sense that lasted until 1829.^[4][2] The sense "able to be measured" appears in the mid-14th century, in a psalter that renders Latin mensurabiles as mesurable days, of limited duration;^[2][6] the OED's sense of something capable of measurement dates from 1565.^[4] Johnson (1755) still gave "moderate; in small quantity" as a second sense.^[9] From 1839 measurable could mean substantial or significant,^[4] and the phrase within measurable distance of, close to, dates from 1846.^[4] Music took it from 1614 for notes of fixed duration, and mathematics from 1901 for sets and functions that have a defined measure.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1330 – moderate, temperate (obsolete by 1608).^[4]
• c. 1350 – of moderate size or quantity; also, that can be measured, of limited duration.^[4][2]
• 1565 – capable of being measured.^[4]
• 1614 – music, of fixed rhythm.^[4]
• 1839 – substantial, significant.^[4]
• 1846 – within measurable distance of.^[4]
• 1901 – mathematics, having a defined measure.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Able to be measured: Every patient showed a measurable change in blood pressure.^[10][11][4]
2. Large enough to be noticed or to matter; perceptible or significant: The new timetable brought a measurable fall in delays.^[10][11][4]
3. (mathematics) Of a set or function, having a defined measure.^[4][12]
4. (obsolete, 1330–1608) Of a person or conduct, moderate or temperate.^[4][8]
5. (obsolete, 1350–1829) Of moderate size, quantity or duration.^[4][2][9]

Word family

• measurability
• measurably
• immeasurable
• nonmeasurable

Related words

• mensurable
• measure
• commensurable

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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 c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
9. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
12. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press