Noticeable

How to spell noticeable

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce noticeable

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does noticeable mean?

1. adjectiveEasily seen, heard, or recognised; clear enough to draw attention.

Noticeable in a sentence

• There was a noticeable improvement in her work after the training course.

• The crack in the paint was still noticeable from across the room.

Where does noticeable come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word is built on 'notice', which English took in the 1400s from Old French 'notice', itself from the Latin 'notitia', meaning 'a being known' or 'acquaintance'. That noun came from 'notus', the past participle of 'noscere', meaning 'to come to know', the same deep root that gives us 'note', 'notion', and 'noble'. The suffix '-able', from Latin '-abilis', adds the sense 'capable of' or 'worthy of', so the whole word literally means 'able to be noticed'. The spelling trap lies in that surviving 'e': English normally drops a silent final 'e' before '-able', but here it is kept after the soft 'c' so the consonant stays soft, exactly as in 'manageable' and 'serviceable'. Drop it and you would invite a hard 'k' sound, which is why 'noticable' looks wrong to a careful reader.

How the word is built

• notice (from Latin notitia: a being known)
• -able (capable of, worthy of); the e is kept to keep the c soft