reversible

Etymology

It is formed from English reverse + -ible.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The OED compares French réversible, recorded from 1610, at first in legal use,^[2] and Johnson took it from French.^[7] The verb reverse is from Old French reverser (“to turn around”), from Late Latin reversō (“to turn about”), a frequentative of revertō (“to turn back, return”).^[3] An earlier spelling with the suffix -able is recorded from the 1580s.^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Able to be reversed: 1632, in Edward Reynolds's Explication of the 110th Psalm.^[2][5] Etymonline dates it to the 1640s.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Johnson (1755) gave only the general sense "capable of being reversed".^[7] In the 19th century the word gained several special senses: of cloth or a garment, finished so that either side can be worn outward (1853), with a reversible for such a garment the same year;^[2][5][3] of a ship's propeller (1862);^[2] and in science, of a process that can run in either direction, first in thermodynamics in W. Thomson's paper of 1852, then of chemical reactions (1883), electric cells (1885) and colloids (1900).^[2] In West Yorkshire a reversible was a double cloth with a better face than back.^[8]

Timeline

• 1632 – able to be reversed.^[2][5] Etymonline dates it to the 1640s.^[3]
• 1852 – in thermodynamics, of a process.^[2]
• 1853 – of cloth or garments, wearable either side out; noun, a reversible garment.^[2][5]
• 1883 – of a chemical reaction.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Able to be reversed or undone: a reversible decision.^[9][5][6]
2. Able to return to its original state after a change.^[9][6]
3. Of a fabric or garment: finished on both sides, so that either side can be worn outward: a reversible raincoat.^[10][5][6]
4. (chemistry, physics) Of a reaction or process: able to go in either direction.^[9][10][5]
5. (thermodynamics) Of an ideal process: able to be reversed by a very small change in conditions, with no loss of energy.^[9][2]

Noun

1. A reversible garment or cloth.^[5][2]

Word family

• reversibility
• reversibly
• irreversible
• nonreversible
• unreversible

Related words

• reverse
• revert
• reversal

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
8. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
9. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt