Measurable

How to spell measurable

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce measurable

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does measurable mean?

1. adjectiveAble to be assessed or expressed as a definite amount, size, or degree.

Measurable in a sentence

• The new training scheme produced a measurable rise in productivity.

• Managers prefer goals that are clear and measurable rather than vague.

Where does measurable come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word grows out of the Latin verb metiri, meaning 'to measure', whose past participle gave mensura, literally 'a measuring' or 'a measured quantity'. That noun passed into Old French as mesure and arrived in English in the 1300s as 'measure', the act of finding a size, amount, or extent. The adjective 'measurable' was then formed in English by adding the productive suffix -able, which marks something 'capable of being done', so the sense is simply 'able to be measured'. The same Latin root quietly survives in relatives such as 'dimension', 'immense' (literally 'not measurable'), and 'mensuration'. The spelling trap sits in the middle: writers expect 'measureable' with the silent e of 'measure' kept, but the e is dropped before -able, leaving 'measur-able'.

How the word is built

• measure (from Latin mensura: a measuring)
• -able (capable of being)