Sizeable

How to spell sizeable

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce sizeable

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does sizeable mean?

1. adjectiveFairly large in amount, extent, or number.

Sizeable in a sentence

• The bonus left her with a sizeable amount in her savings account.

• They bought a sizeable house on the edge of town.

Where does sizeable come from?

Language of origin: French

This word is built on 'size', a noun that came into English in the 1300s from Old French 'sise', a shortened form of 'assise', meaning a session or a settled regulation, ultimately from the Latin 'assidere', 'to sit beside' (from 'ad' meaning 'to' and 'sedere' meaning 'to sit'). The original idea was a fixed standard or assize that set the official dimensions of goods such as bread and cloth, so 'size' first meant a regulated measure before it broadened to mean general magnitude. The adjective 'sizeable', meaning fairly large, was formed in English in the 1600s by adding the suffix '-able' to 'size'. The spelling keeps the silent 'e' of 'size' to preserve the soft 's' sound and signal the root word, which is exactly the trap: writers often drop the 'e' to give 'sizable', the form usually preferred in American style. Both spellings are correct, but the 'e' is retained as standard in British and Canadian usage.

How the word is built

• size (noun, extent or magnitude)
• -able (adjective suffix: capable of, having the quality of), with the silent e retained before -able

Words that sound like sizeable

They sound the same but mean different things, so the meaning decides which spelling to write.

• sizable: Fairly large; considerable in size or amount.