Affordable

How to spell affordable

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce affordable

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does affordable mean?

1. adjectiveInexpensive enough that a person can reasonably manage to pay for it.

Affordable in a sentence

• The council promised more affordable housing for young families.

• She searched for an affordable flight that still left on a weekday.

Where does affordable come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

The base verb 'afford' descends from Old English 'geforthian', which meant 'to carry out, accomplish, or further', built from the prefix 'ge-' and 'forthian', 'to advance or promote'. Over the medieval period the sense drifted from simply 'managing to do something' toward 'managing to bear the expense of something', so by the time it reached early modern English it carried the strong money sense we use today. The spelling shifted too: the old 'g'-prefix form was reshaped, and the word picked up its doubled 'f' by analogy with Latin-looking words beginning 'af-' (as in 'affirm' or 'affix'), even though the root is genuinely native Germanic, not Latin. The adjective 'affordable' was then formed in English by adding the suffix '-able', meaning 'capable of being', which itself entered English from Latin '-abilis' by way of French. The lasting spelling trap is precisely that borrowed-looking double 'f' sitting in front of a single 'd', a pattern that tempts writers to double the wrong letter.

How the word is built

• af- (assimilated form, originally Old English ge-)
• ford (afford: to manage to bear the cost of)
• -able (capable of being)