usable

Forms

usable m or f (masculine and feminine plural usables)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Spanish usar + -able.^[1][2] DICCA-XV derives usar from *usare, a frequentative of ūtor (“to use”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Old Spanish Textual Archive has it once, in the Vidal Mayor, the Aragonese law code, in a manuscript of about 1261–1280;^[3][4] DEMel lists the same text, of about 1250.^[3][4] DICCA-XV gives 1250 as its date in the CORDE and finds it in its own 15th-century texts in 1476.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In the Americas it is recorded from 1763, in Santo Domingo, of terms in use in the country, and in Peru in the 1790s, of foods fit to be used.^[5] Moliner defines it as able to be used.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 1250 – the Vidal Mayor uses the word.^[4][2]
• 1476 – first record in DICCA-XV's texts.^[2]
• 1763 – first record from the Americas, in Santo Domingo.^[5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. That can be used (usar); usable, still fit for use: Este cable todavía es usable.^[6][1]

Related words

• uso
• utilizable

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv, p. s.v. usable
3. ^ a b Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (2026), Old Spanish Textual Archive (OSTA): semi-paleographic transcriptions of Old Spanish texts, ed. Francisco Gago Jover et al., https://www.hispanicseminary.org, p. s.v. usable
4. ^ a b c Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. usable
5. ^ a b Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. usable
6. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. usable