operable

Etymology

The OED takes it as borrowed from Late Latin operābilis (“working, active, efficacious”), recorded from the 4th century and in British sources from 1267 also in the sense "able to be produced or affected by action",^[2] formed from Latin operor (“to work”) and the suffix -bilis.^[2][3][4] Barnhart instead treats it as formed from English operate + -able,^[5][6] and Etymonline allows either origin.^[7] The Shorter Oxford takes the surgical sense from the English verb operate.^[8] The OED compares Middle French operable (“pushing into action”), from about 1450, and the later French sense "able to be operated on", from 1845–6.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Able to be done or put into effect; practicable: 1646, in Sir T. Browne's Pseudodoxia Epidemica.^[2][6][3] Etymonline dates it to the 1640s.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The OED notes that the word was rare before the 20th century.^[2] Johnson (1755) defined it as "to be done; practicable" and quoted Browne's Vulgar Errours.^[9] A noun, something that may or should be done, a point of practice, is recorded only in 1677.^[2] The medical sense, of a patient or a disease that can be treated by a surgical operation, appeared in 1904,^[2][6][7] and the modern general sense, of a machine or system that can be operated or used, is the first sense in the current dictionaries.^[10][3][11]

Timeline

• 1646 – practicable, able to be put into effect.^[2][6][3]
• 1677 – noun, a matter of practice (obsolete).^[2]
• 1904 – of a patient or a disease, suitable for surgical treatment.^[2][6][7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Able to be used or operated; in working order: After the storm only one of the pumps was still operable.^{[10][11][3][2]}
2. Able to be put into practice; practicable: an operable scheme.^{[10][11][3][2]}
3. (medicine) Able to be treated by a surgical operation with reasonable safety: The surgeon decided the growth was operable.^{[10][11][3][2]}

Word family

• operability
• operably
• interoperable

Related words

• operate
• operation
• opus
• opera
• inoperable

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
6. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ 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 c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
11. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins