Collectable

/kəˈlɛktəbəl/ adjective

Definition

Worth collecting as a hobby or investment; suitable for being gathered and kept as part of a collection.

Etymology

From Latin 'collectus' (gathered together) + English suffix '-able' (capable of being). The word evolved from describing debt recovery to describing items worth gathering for pleasure or value.

Kelly Says

The psychology of collectables reveals fascinating human behaviors around scarcity, nostalgia, and investment, creating entire markets for items that might otherwise be worthless. Baseball cards, for instance, transformed from free promotional items to valuable assets worth thousands of dollars.

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