soluble

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English soluble, also solubil and solabil,^[2] borrowed from Old French soluble^[3][4][5][6] and directly borrowed from Late Latin solūbilis (“that may be loosened or dissolved”),^[2][7][8] formed from solvō (“to loosen, dissolve”) and the suffix -bilis.^[7][9][10] The Anglo-Norman adjective is recorded from the early 13th century, meaning digestible, laxative and free from constipation.^[11] The Latin adjective is also the source of Spanish soluble and Italian solubile.^[3] Etymonline traces the verb to Proto-Indo-European *se-lu-, a compound of the reflexive pronoun *s(w)e- and the root *leu- (“to loosen, divide, cut apart”).^[4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of the bowels, free from constipation: Lelamour's Macer, dated 1373 by the MED, says that anise boiled in ale "makiþe þe wombe solabill".^[2][12] The OED's first record of the sense is from about 1400.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The medical sense came first, and between about 1503 and 1704 the word also meant laxative.^[3] The chemical sense, able to be dissolved, appears before 1425, in a translation of Higden's Polychronicon,^[12][3] and Johnson (1755) knew only this meaning, "capable of dissolution or separation of parts".^[13] The sense "able to be solved or explained" dates from about 1705, in Berkeley,^[3][4][5] and a mathematical use from 1902.^[3] Rarer senses, able to be untied (1613) and pliable (1650–83), did not last.^[3] The medical sense is now archaic or obsolete,^[9][14] and the noun, a soluble constituent of a food, is recorded from 1952.^[3]

Timeline

• 1373 – free from constipation, as solabill.^[2][12]
• c. 1400 – the OED's first record of that sense.^[3]
• before 1425 – able to be dissolved.^[12][3]
• c. 1503 – laxative (obsolete after 1704).^[3]
• 1613 – able to be untied (rare).^[3]
• c. 1705 – able to be solved or explained.^[3][4]
• 1902 – in mathematics, solvable.^[3]
• 1952 – noun, a soluble constituent.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Able to be dissolved, especially in water: These tablets are soluble in cold water.^[8][9][3]
2. Able to be solved or explained; solvable: a soluble riddle.^[8][9][3]
3. (archaic) Of the bowels, free from constipation.^[9][3][14]
4. (obsolete, 1503–1704) Laxative.^[3][9][14]

Noun

1. A soluble substance or constituent, especially of a food.^[9][3]

Word family

• solubleness
• solubly
• unsoluble
• solubility
• solubilize
• fat-soluble
• water-soluble
• nonsoluble

Related words

• insoluble
• solute
• solve
• solution
• solvent
• dissolve
• solvable
• resolve

Usage notes

Etymonline notes that substances are soluble but not solvable, while problems can be either.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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)
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
12. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press