Durable

How to spell durable

7 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce durable

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does durable mean?

1. adjectiveAble to withstand wear, damage, or repeated use over a long time.

Durable in a sentence

• The boots are made from a durable leather that resists scuffing.

• She chose a durable work surface that would not scratch easily.

Where does durable come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin durabilis, meaning 'lasting' or 'able to endure', which was built on the verb durare, 'to harden, to last, to hold out'. That verb in turn rests on the adjective durus, which literally meant 'hard' in the sense of physically tough or unyielding. English took the word in during the late 1300s by way of Old French, where it appeared as durable with much the same meaning of long-lasting. The same durus and durare roots gave English a whole family of relatives, including 'endure', 'duration', and 'duress', all of which carry that core idea of something hard that lasts or holds firm. Remembering that the middle simply spells the Latin dur ('hard') and the regular ending -able helps keep the word from drifting toward an -ible spelling.

How the word is built

• dur- (from Latin durare: to last, harden)
• -able (capable of, suffix)