Negotiable

How to spell negotiable

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce negotiable

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does negotiable mean?

1. adjectiveOpen to discussion or change rather than fixed, so that terms can be agreed by bargaining.
2. adjectiveOf a cheque or financial instrument, legally transferable from one party to another by delivery or endorsement.

Negotiable in a sentence

• The asking price is firm, but the closing date is negotiable.

• The bank explained that a crossed cheque is not freely negotiable.

• The recruiter confirmed that the starting salary was negotiable.

• A bearer bond is fully negotiable and can be passed to anyone who holds it.

Where does negotiable come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin negotium, meaning 'business' or 'occupation', which was built quite literally from neg- ('not') and otium ('leisure' or 'ease'); to a Roman, business was simply the absence of leisure. From negotium came the verb negotiari, 'to carry on business' or 'to trade', and English took up 'negotiate' in the sixteenth century to mean conducting affairs and, later, bargaining toward an agreement. The adjective 'negotiable' was formed in English by adding the suffix -able, 'capable of being', giving the sense of something that can be discussed, settled, or, in finance, legally transferred. The hidden 'oti' in the middle, sounded as a soft 'sh', is the usual spelling trap, since the unstressed syllable gives no clue that the letters are t-i rather than the 'sh' the ear expects. The same negotium root underlies the modern word 'negotiate' and even survives in the rarer 'otiose', meaning idle or pointless.

How the word is built

• negoti- (from Latin negotium: business)
• -able (capable of being)