Recognizable

How to spell recognizable

12 letters · 5 syllables

How to pronounce recognizable

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does recognizable mean?

1. adjectiveAble to be identified as something or someone already known.

Recognizable in a sentence

• The company logo is instantly recognizable on every product.

• After the renovation, the old factory was barely recognizable.

Where does recognizable come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This adjective is built on the verb recognize plus the suffix -able, meaning 'able to be'. Recognize traces back to the Latin recognoscere, which meant 'to know again' or 'to recall to mind', formed from re- 'again' and cognoscere 'to get to know', itself a blend of co- 'thoroughly' and gnoscere 'to know'. The same gnoscere root quietly survives in a whole family of English words, including 'cognition', 'notice', and even 'noble', so the silent g in recognizable is a genuine fossil of that ancient 'knowing' root rather than a random ornament. English took the verb in through Old French reconoistre in the late Middle Ages, and the -able adjective followed naturally once writers needed a word for something that could be picked out and identified. The spelling trap lives in two places at once: that almost inaudible g after the n, and the unstressed -izable ending where the z and the schwa vowel are easy to drop or muddle.

How the word is built

• re- (again)
• cogn (know, from Latin cognoscere)
• -ize (verb-forming)
• -able (capable of being)

British and American spelling

Recognizable is the American spelling. British English spells it recognisable.