Able to be crossed by wading through water; shallow and passable enough to cross on foot without swimming.
From ford (a shallow place in a river, from Old English ford) + -able (suffix meaning capable of). The word describes water that permits passage on foot.
For millennia, before bridges and boats, 'fordable' rivers determined trade routes, battle strategies, and refugee paths—entire civilizations rose or fell based on which rivers were fordable.
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