When does one use -ible and when does one use -able?

[dotancohen]

The ability to do something is often conveyed in English with either the suffix -ible or the suffix -able. In the absence of a dictionary, how does one know which to use?

-able example:
Accessible, not accessable.

-ible examle:
Cleanable, not cleanible.

Thanks.

 

[freezeframe]

I don't know the answer to this buy I found the following:

in Eng., -able is used for native words, -ible for words of obvious L. origin.

-able | Define -able at Dictionary.com

To make you more confused, there's also the suffix -ble :-(

 

[Mr_Ben]

The ability to do something is often conveyed in English with either the suffix -ible or the suffix -able. In the absence of a dictionary, how does one know which to use?

You read a lot and get to know which one "looks right." Sorry but unless you really want to study etymology this is the easiest way.

 

[freezeframe]

Hi,

Good ideal, pls try to keep posting. I like this topic very much and I will digged this one. Tks again.

Is this some sort of a bot? :-?

 

[dotancohen]

I don't know the answer to this buy I found the following:

-able | Define -able at Dictionary.com

To make you more confused, there's also the suffix -ble :-(

Great, thanks. I was hoping that there would be some sort of rule behind the matter. Though etymology does in fact interest me, I certainly will not make a profession of it.

Is this some sort of a bot?

Is that an allusion to The Naked Gun?

 

[Mr_Ben]

Is that an allusion to The Naked Gun?

Just about: YouTube - Police Squad Bust

 

[BobK]

Great, thanks. I was hoping that there would be some sort of rule behind the matter. ...

Well there is, and it's been discussed here before. It has a few exceptions, but most of the time you can take it that when a -Vble word is based on a recognizable verb, use -able; when a -Vble word starts with a morpheme that can't stand alone as a verb, use -ible.

So doable, laughable , manageable, reportable... from do, laugh, manage, reporrt

But legible, horrible, susceptible, possible... because you can't [STRIKE]leg[/STRIKE], [STRIKE]horr[/STRIKE], [STRIKE]suscept[/STRIKE] or [STRIKE]poss[/STRIKE].

There are quite a few exceptions, mostly -able words: capable, culpable, laudable, malleable... Here, only a knowledge of etymology will help; briefly, they are often words derived from an original Latin -abilis, rather than words that had the suffix '-able' added at a later stage.

But the exceptions are often words that English students won't meet anyway, so it's a fairly useful rule of thumb.

b

 

[birdeen's call]

There are also exceptions to the rule: when a -Vble word starts with a morpheme that can't stand alone as a verb, use -ible, for example:

accessible, convertible

As BobK said, it's easy with the words that were coined recently. "-ible" is generally a nonproductive suffix in English, so new words take "-able". The problem is with Latin words in which the suffix depends on which conjugation the verb belonged to.

 

[dotancohen]

Thanks. I now see the "Similar Threads" links at the bottom of this page. I'll spend some time reading through them.

Thank you!