Adorable

How to spell adorable

8 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce adorable

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does adorable mean?

1. adjectiveInspiring great affection; delightful and charming.

Adorable in a sentence

• The new puppy was so adorable that everyone wanted to hold it.

• She found the toddler's tiny shoes absolutely adorable.

Where does adorable come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word travelled into English from the Latin adorabilis, meaning 'worthy of being worshipped'. That adjective was built on the verb adorare, 'to adore' or 'to worship', which itself combined the prefix ad-, meaning 'to' or 'towards', with orare, 'to speak, to pray, to plead'. So the literal sense was something like 'to address a prayer to', and the earliest English use carried that reverent religious weight before the meaning softened. English picked it up around the early 1600s, partly through French adorable, and over time it drifted from solemn worship to the warm, affectionate 'utterly charming' we use today. The same orare root still hides inside 'oration' and 'oratory', a useful reminder that the middle of adorable is spelled with the prayer word, and that the ending is -able, not -ible.

How the word is built

• ad- (to)
• or (from Latin orare: to pray, to speak)
• -able (worthy of, capable of)