passable

Etymology

It is partly borrowed from Middle French passable, also Anglo-Norman, and partly formed from English pass + -able.^[2][3] The French adjective is formed from passer (“to pass”) and -able,^[2][4][5][6] and is recorded in Old French from the late 13th century in the senses "able to pass" and "transient", from about 1340 as "able to be crossed", and since 1396 as "adequate"; modern French keeps only the last.^[2] Etymonline gives Old French passable the sense "fordable, affording passage" in the 14th century.^[3] Compare Medieval Latin passabilis (1438, in a French source) and Italian passabile.^[2] The verb passer is from Vulgar Latin *passō (“to step, walk, pass”), from Latin passus (“step, pace”).^[3] The rare sense "likely to be passed by an assembly" was formed in English from the verb pass.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Able to be passed or crossed: 1483, in Caxton's printed translation of the Pylgremage of the Sowle, where the whole earth was "passable" to spirits.^[2][7] The Middle English Dictionary dates the same text to 1413 in a manuscript of before 1500,^[7] and Etymonline dates the word to the early 15th century.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The sense "of acceptable quality, good enough" followed in 1489, in a translation by Caxton,^[2] and Etymonline dates "tolerable, such as may be allowed to pass" to the late 15th century;^[3] the OED notes that in later use it came to mean only just good enough.^[2] Several senses copied from French or Latin did not last: "able to pass or have passage" (1555–1763), "legal, current", especially of money (1590–1888), and "passing, transient" (1613–28).^[2] Johnson (1755) gave "possible to be passed or travelled through" and "supportable; tolerable; allowable".^[8] The adverbial use, now usually passably, dates from 1591, and a noun for a passable person or thing from 1908.^[2] Collins still lists "valid for circulation" for currency and "able to be enacted" for a proposed law.^[9]

Timeline

• 1483 – able to be crossed or travelled over.^[2]
• 1489 – of adequate quality, satisfactory.^[2]
• 1555 – able to pass through (obsolete by 1763).^[2]
• 1590 – legal; of money, current (obsolete by 1888).^[2]
• 1591 – as an adverb, passably.^[2]
• 1749 – likely to be passed by an assembly (rare, obsolete by 1831).^[2]
• 1908 – noun, a passable person or thing.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Able to be crossed or travelled on: After the thaw the mountain road was passable again.^[9][4][2]
2. Just good enough; adequate or tolerable: She spoke passable Italian.^[9][4][2]
3. Of currency, valid for general circulation.^[9][4]
4. Of a proposed law, able to be enacted.^[9][2]
5. (archaic) Able to pass or go through.^[4][2]

Word family

• passableness
• passably
• unpassable

Related words

• pass
• passage
• impassable
• passible

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
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. ^ a b 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)
8. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
9. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins