Etymologically
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usable

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈjuː.zə.bəl/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English usable,[2] borrowed from Middle French usable (“available, in use”),[3][4][5][6] recorded in Old French from 1254,[3] formed from user (“to employ, make use of”) and the suffix -able.[3][4][6] The French verb is from Vulgar Latin *ūsō, from the stem of Latin ūtor (“to make use of”).[4] The OED leaves open whether the English word was borrowed from French or formed from English use + -able,[3] and the Shorter Oxford takes it as an English formation.[7] Etymonline and Barnhart think it was re-formed in English from the verb in the 19th century, when it became common.[4][6] The OED compares uzable, usable, usable and usabile.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

That can be used; in the Wycliffite Bible (before 1382), of the "usable things" of the tabernacle and of tame, domestic beasts.[3][2][6]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the word also meant useful, and in mid-15th-century writers such as Pecock it was used of what may properly or lawfully be practised; a few texts used it for something that can be experienced or enjoyed.[2] It was rare before the 19th century:[4][6] Barnhart notes that it is, as one would expect, missing from Johnson's Dictionary (1755).[6] Etymonline dates its wider use from about 1840, when it was probably formed again from the verb.[4] Merriam-Webster records a second sense, convenient and practical to use.[5]

Timeline

  • before 1382 – usable in the Wycliffite Bible, of things fit for use.[3][2][6]
  • c. 1443 – Pecock uses it of what may rightly be practised.[2]
  • 1755 – not entered in Johnson's Dictionary.[6]
  • c. 1840 – in common use, probably re-formed from the verb use.[4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Able to be used; in a fit state for use: Only two of the old printers were still usable.[8][5][3]
  2. Convenient and practical to use.[5][3]

Word family

  • usability
  • usably
  • usableness
  • nonusable
  • unusable

Usage notes

The spelling useable is also recorded,[8][9][7] and Merriam-Webster calls it the less common form.[5] The derivatives have both spellings too: usability or useability, usably or useably.[8][10]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  7. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  9. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House