Understandable

How to spell understandable

14 letters · 5 syllables

How to pronounce understandable

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does understandable mean?

1. adjectiveAble to be understood; clear enough to grasp, or natural and reasonable given the circumstances.

Understandable in a sentence

• The instructions were written in plain, understandable language.

• Her frustration after the delayed flight was completely understandable.

Where does understandable come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word is built on the verb 'understand', which comes straight from the Old English understandan, a compound of under and standan. The 'under' part here did not mean 'beneath' in the modern sense; in early use it carried the older meaning of 'among' or 'between', so to understand something was, roughly, to stand among or close to it and so grasp it. To that native English verb the suffix -able was attached, a borrowing from the Latin -abilis meaning 'able to be' or 'capable of', which entered English heavily through French and was then freely added to home-grown words. The result, recorded from the late Middle English period, simply means 'able to be understood'. The spelling trap is the quiet double helping of vowels: the unstressed 'a' before -ble, which makes the ending sound like 'ible' to many ears even though it is -able.

How the word is built

• under- (Old English under, here meaning 'among, between')
• stand (Old English standan, 'to stand')
• -able (capable of, suffix from Latin -abilis)