Eligible

How to spell eligible

8 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce eligible

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does eligible mean?

1. adjectiveMeeting the conditions or qualifications needed to be chosen, allowed, or to take part in something.

Eligible in a sentence

• Only residents who have lived here for a year are eligible to vote.

• After five years of service, staff become eligible for the pension scheme.

Where does eligible come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word comes from the Latin eligibilis, meaning 'fit to be chosen', which was built on the verb eligere, 'to pick out' or 'to choose'. That verb combines ex-, meaning 'out', with legere, which literally meant 'to gather, select, or read'. English took the word in during the early 1400s, partly through the Old French eligible, and used it to describe someone or something worthy of being selected. The same legere root sits inside many familiar relatives, including 'elect', 'select', and 'legible', all sharing the core idea of choosing or reading out. That hidden lig spelling, pronounced as a soft schwa, is exactly why writers stumble: the middle of the word sounds nothing like the letters it actually contains, and the ending is -ible rather than the more common -able.

How the word is built

• e- (variant of ex-: out)
• lig (from legere: to choose)
• -ible (able to be)