Cable

How to spell cable

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce cable

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does cable mean?

1. nounA thick rope of wire or fibre, or an insulated bundle of wires that carries electricity or signals.

Cable in a sentence

• The electrician ran a new cable along the skirting board.

• The bridge is held up by a single steel cable on each side.

Where does cable come from?

Language of origin: French

Cable comes into English from Old French, where 'cable' meant a strong, thick rope, and behind that lies the Late Latin word 'capulum', meaning a halter or rope used for leading or holding an animal. That Latin word grew from the verb 'capere', meaning 'to take' or 'to hold', so a cable was literally something that grips or holds fast. English picked it up in the 1200s through the dialect of Old North French (Anglo-Norman), at first describing the heavy ropes and chains that held a ship's anchor. As technology advanced, the same word stretched naturally to cover the bundled wires that carry electricity and signals, which is why we now speak of power cables and television cables. The shared 'capere' root also links cable to everyday relatives such as 'capture' and 'captive', all of which carry the underlying idea of taking hold.

How the word is built

• cable (from Late Latin capulum: a rope or halter for holding)
• no affix