Susceptibility

How to spell susceptibility

14 letters · 6 syllables

How to pronounce susceptibility

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does susceptibility mean?

1. nounThe state of being likely to be influenced, harmed, or affected by something.
2. nounA measure of how much a material becomes magnetised or polarised in response to an applied field.

Susceptibility in a sentence

• Poor diet and stress can increase a person's susceptibility to infection.

• The lab measured the magnetic susceptibility of each metal sample.

• The report assessed the region's susceptibility to flooding after heavy rain.

• A high magnetic susceptibility means the substance is strongly drawn into the field.

Where does susceptibility come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb suscipere, which meant 'to take up', 'to receive', or 'to undertake', formed from sub- (in the sense of 'up from under') and capere 'to take'. From it came the late Latin adjective susceptibilis, describing something capable of receiving or being affected by an influence. English adopted 'susceptible' in the 1600s, largely by way of learned and medical writing, and the abstract noun 'susceptibility' followed soon after to name the quality of being easily affected. The same capere root, meaning simply 'to take', sits inside a large family of English words such as 'capture', 'accept', 'receive', and 'capable', which is a useful reminder that the heart of the word is the silent-feeling 'cept' rather than the tricky string of weak vowels around it. Most of the spelling difficulty lies in those unstressed syllables, the double 's' at the start and the '-ibility' ending that adults so often slip into '-ability'.

How the word is built

• sus- (variant of sub-, up from under)
• cept (from Latin capere: to take)
• -ible (able to be)
• -ity (noun-forming suffix)