Hearable

/ˈhɪrəbəl/ adjective

Definition

Capable of being heard; within range of hearing or loud enough to be perceived by the ear.

Etymology

From 'hear' (Old English 'hieran') plus '-able', a suffix meaning 'capable of being' or 'worthy of being', creating an adjective for audible things.

Kelly Says

The '-able' suffix is one of English's most powerful tools for creating new adjectives from verbs—'hearable' follows the same pattern as 'readable' and 'teachable'—yet 'audible' (from Latin) won out instead, showing how sometimes Romance-origin words edge out Germanic ones in English!

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