Understandably

How to spell understandably

14 letters · 5 syllables

How to pronounce understandably

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does understandably mean?

1. adverbIn a way that is reasonable and easy to comprehend given the circumstances.

Understandably in a sentence

• After the long delay, the passengers were understandably frustrated.

• She was understandably nervous before the job interview.

Where does understandably come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word builds on 'understand', which comes straight from the Old English understandan, a compound of under and standan 'to stand'. The literal sense was something like 'to stand among' or 'to stand close to', and from that physical image English developed the figurative meaning of grasping or comprehending an idea, as if standing right beside it. To that core verb English added -able, from the Latin -abilis 'capable of being', to make 'understandable', meaning able to be grasped or reasonable, and finally the adverb ending -ly to give 'understandably'. The modern sense, 'as one would naturally expect', flows from the idea that the reaction or outcome can be readily comprehended. The stacked endings -able plus -ly are the spelling trap here: writers must keep the silent 'e' position in mind and resist writing the more common '-ibly' ending.

How the word is built

• under- (among, beneath)
• stand (Old English standan: to take a position)
• -able (capable of)
• -ly (adverb suffix)