Wearable

How to spell wearable

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce wearable

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does wearable mean?

1. adjectiveSuitable or comfortable enough to be worn on the body.
2. nounA smart electronic device, such as a watch or fitness band, designed to be worn on the body.

Wearable in a sentence

• adjective

  The designer wanted clothes that were stylish yet wearable for everyday work.

• noun

  The company launched a new wearable that tracks heart rate and sleep.

• adjective

  The new fabric is light and wearable even in hot weather.

• noun

  His fitness wearable buzzed to remind him to stand up.

Where does wearable come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

The base verb 'wear' descends from the Old English werian, meaning 'to carry on the body' or 'to clothe oneself', a thoroughly Germanic word with cousins across the old northern languages. To this native root English attached the suffix '-able', which arrived through Old French from the Latin '-abilis', carrying the sense 'capable of' or 'fit to be'. The combined adjective 'wearable', meaning 'fit to be worn', emerged in English by the nineteenth century. In recent decades the word grew a noun sense in the technology world, where a 'wearable' names a smart device such as a watch or fitness band worn on the body. The spelling trap is the silent middle: the 'wear' is kept whole and the 'e' before '-able' stays put, so the word never collapses to 'wearble'.

How the word is built

• wear (from Old English werian: to carry on the body)
• -able (capable of, suitable for)