movable

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English mevable, also movable and moevable,^[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman mevable, also movable, and Old French mouvable (“capable of moving or of being moved”) (early 12th century),^[4][5][6][7] from movoir (“to move”) and the suffix -able.^[4][8][9] The Anglo-Norman word is recorded from 1212 and meant movable, portable, and changeable or fickle, and in the plural movable goods.^[10] Many Middle English spellings were shaped by the verb meven, to move.^[2][3] The OED compares mobile.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Able to be moved, not fixed in one place: before 1325, in the poem Lent.^[4] Etymonline dates the sense "disposed to movement" to the late 14th century and "capable of being moved" to about 1400.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The Wycliffite Bible of the 1380s used the word for things capable of motion, for living creatures, and in law for property that can be carried away, personal as opposed to real.^[4][2] Middle English also had the sense "changeable, fickle" (from before 1398 until 1694)^[4][8] and "quick to move" (until 1718).^[4] Chaucer used it ten times, with the firste moevable for the outermost sphere of the heavens, the primum mobile.^[11][4] A movable feast, one of the Church's feasts that falls on a different date each year, is recorded from the early 15th century.^[9] As a noun, movables meant personal property from 1428, and a piece of furniture that can be taken out of a building from 1523.^[4] In Scots law, movable property was what did not pass to the heir.^[4][3] Linguists have used it since 1933 for a sound inserted under certain conditions, as in the movable nu of Greek.^[4]

Timeline

• before 1325 – able to be moved, not fixed.^[4]
• before 1382 – of property, personal rather than real; also, quick to move (obsolete by 1718).^[4]
• before 1398 – changeable, fickle (obsolete by 1694).^[4]
• c. 1400 – noun, the first movable, the outermost sphere of the heavens (obsolete by 1690).^[4]
• early 15th century – movable feast.^[9]
• 1428 – noun, in the plural, personal property.^[4]
• 1523 – an article of furniture that can be removed.^[4]
• 1933 – in linguistics, of a sound inserted under certain conditions.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Able to be moved or rearranged; not fixed: a desk with movable shelves.^[12][3][4]
2. Of a religious feast such as Easter, falling on a different date from year to year.^[12][9]
3. (law) Of property, personal rather than real; able to be carried away.^[12][3][4]
4. (printing) Of type, cast as separate pieces, one for each character.^[12]
5. (obsolete, before 1398–1694) Changeable or fickle.^[4][3][8]
6. (obsolete, before 1382–1718) Quick or ready to move.^[4][8]

Noun

1. An article of property that can be moved, such as furniture; usually movables, personal property.^[3][4][8]
2. (Scots law) Property that is not heritable.^[3][4]

Word family

• movability
• movably
• movableness
• unmovable
• movable feast
• movable type

Related words

• move
• mobile
• immovable

Usage notes

The word is also spelt moveable;^[12][3][9] the Shorter Oxford calls this now the usual form in law,^[8] and Collins gives the legal sense usually spelt moveable.^[12] Etymonline writes moveable feast.^[9]

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 c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
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. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
11. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
12. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins