Visible

How to spell visible

7 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce visible

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does visible mean?

1. adjectiveAble to be seen or noticed.

Visible in a sentence

• The repair was still visible under the fresh coat of paint.

• The comet was visible to the naked eye for several nights.

Where does visible come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin visibilis, meaning 'that may be seen', which was built on the verb videre, 'to see', combined with the suffix -ibilis indicating capacity or possibility. English took it up in the 1300s, borrowing it through Old French as visible, with essentially the meaning it still carries today. The very same videre root is the engine behind a whole family of familiar words, including 'vision', 'visual', 'evident', 'provide', and even 'television'. The spelling trap lives in the ending: writers often want to spell it '-able' by analogy with the many native English words that take that suffix, but because the word came directly from a Latin -ibilis form, it keeps the -ible spelling. Remembering the relative 'vision' helps anchor that single s and the i before the b.

How the word is built

• vis- (from videre: to see)
• -ible (capable of being)