nameable
Capable of being distinguished and named; able to be called by a specific name.
Adjective
- Capable of being distinguished and named; able to be called by a specific name.
- 1635, Alexander Gill, The Sacred Philosophie of Holy Scripture, London: Joyce Norton and Richard Whitaker, Chapter 8, p. 30, [God’s] pure being, because it is neither understandable, nor nameable by us, we speake of...
- Mr. Hyde […] gave an impression of deformity without any nameable malformation […] - 1886, Robert Louis Stevenson, “Search for Mr. Hyde”, in Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, London: Longmans, Green, page 25:
- The vogue for the sleuth-flâneur […] in the first half of the twentieth century has encouraged recent attempts to map the rise of British detective fiction, and its subsequent love affair with the thriller, onto the...
- Worthy of being named or having a name; significant; memorable (especially in negative expressions).
- […] the culture [of alfalfa] is not very expensive, though the profit is not nameable till the second or third year, when the cuttings are considerable […] - c. 1785, Josiah Ringsted, The Cattle-Keeper’s Assistant, 7th...
- 1810, William Coleman, An Appeal to the People, New York: C.S. Van Winkle, p. 72, A mission hatched by Jefferson under the pretence of forming a commercial treaty, though we have neither trade of any nameable amount...
Origin
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁nómn̥ Proto-Germanic *namô Proto-West Germanic *namō Old English nama Middle English name English name Proto-Indo-European *-tḗr Proto-Indo-European *-dʰlom Proto-Indo-European *-dʰlis Proto-Italic *-ðlis Latin -bilis Latin -ābilis Old French -ablebor. Middle English -able English -able English nameable From name + -able.
Forms
Synonyms
Antonyms
nameless unidentifiable unnameable unrecognisable forgettable irrelevant