Feasible

How to spell feasible

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce feasible

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does feasible mean?

1. adjectiveAble to be done or achieved in practice; possible and realistic.

Feasible in a sentence

• The engineers concluded that building the bridge in one season was not feasible.

• A four-day working week is feasible only if the team meets its targets.

Where does feasible come from?

Language of origin: French

Feasible came into English in the fifteenth century from the Old French faisable, meaning 'doable' or 'capable of being done'. That French word was built on the verb faire, 'to do' or 'to make', which descends from the Latin facere, carrying the same plain sense of doing or making. So at its heart feasible simply means 'able to be done', and the same facere root quietly powers a whole family of English words including 'fact', 'factory', 'effect', and 'manufacture'. The spelling trap comes from that French-by-way-of-Latin journey: the ending settled as -ible rather than the more common -able, and the opening 'ea' represents a sound that gives no clue it should be spelled that way. Remembering that it shares its 'do' root with 'fact' can help anchor why the start is fea- and not fee-.

How the word is built

• feas- (from Old French faire, to do, from Latin facere 'to do, make')
• -ible (capable of being)