reasonable

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈriː.zən.ə.bəl/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English resonable,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French raisonable,^[2][4][5] on the model of Latin ratiōnābilis (“rational”),^[2][4][3] from ratio “reckoning, understanding”,^[2] from ratus, past participle of rērī “to reckon, think”,^[2] from Proto-Indo-European *re- (“to reason, count”).^[2] It is related to reason, rational and ratio.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

“Having sound judgement, endowed with reason”: about 1300 in Etymonline,^[2] the 14th century in the OED, which also has it as “not asking too much”.^[6] “Agreeable to reason, not absurd” is from before 1300.^[6]

Semantic evolution

In early use it also meant rational or sane, senses now obsolete,^[2] and of living things “endowed with reason”, as in reasonable creature, from about 1374.^[6] “Able to discourse, ready of speech” is from about 1369, now obsolete.^[6] The sense shifted in Middle English through “resulting from good judgement” to “not exceeding the bounds of common sense”.^[2] “Moderate in amount” is from the 14th century, and “moderate in price” from the 1660s.^[2] Reasonably is from the late 14th century as “according to reason”, and about 1500 as “fairly, tolerably”.^[2]

Timeline

• a. 1300 – agreeable to reason.^[6]
• c. 1300 – having sound judgement.^[2]
• 14th century – moderate in amount.^[2]
• c. 1374 – reasonable creature.^[6]
• c. 1500 – reasonably, fairly.^[2]
• 1660s – moderate in price.^[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Able to reason; rational.
2. In accordance with reason or sound thinking: a reasonable explanation.
3. Within the bounds of common sense; sensible.
4. Not excessive or extreme; fair: a reasonable price.

Word family

• reasonability
• reasonably
• reasonableness

Related words

• reason
• unreasonable
• rational
• ratio

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press