Etymologically
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reasonable

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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
  • 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