affable

English

WOTD – 4 January 2009

Etymology

French affable, Latin affābilis, from affor (“I address”), from ad + for (“speak, talk”). See fable.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈæf.ə.bəl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Adjective

affable (comparative more affable, superlative most affable)

1. Receiving others kindly and conversing with them in a free and friendly manner; friendly, courteous, sociable.

   Synonyms: accessible, civil, complaisant, courteous, friendly, gracious, personable

   • 1912, James Burrill Angell, “chapter ix Mission To The Ottoman Empire”, in The Reminiscences Of James Burrill Angell:

     Furthermore, I may say, that the Sultan was always most affable to me in my interviews with him, even when I had to discuss some missionary questions. In fact, I never saw any traces of the difficulties which Mr. Terrell reported.

   • 1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “Chief White Halfoat”, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →OCLC, page 45:

     […] He stood bolt upright instead with his stumpy arms resting comfortably on the backsof the pilot's and co-pilot's seats, pipe in hand, making affable small talk to McWatt and whoever happened to be co-pilot and pointing out amusing trivia in the sky to the two men, who were too busy to be interested.

2. Mild; benign.

   Synonyms: benign, mild, warm

   • 1998, Alexia Maria Kosmider, Tricky Tribal Discourse, page 84:

     During more affable weather, the four friends congregate outside, sometimes leaning their hickory chairs against a "catapa" tree […]

Antonyms

• inaffable
• unaffable

 

Derived terms

• affability
• affableness
• affably

 

Related terms

• fable
• fabulous
• fame
• fandango
• fatal
• fate
• fatuous
• fay
• ineffable
• infamous
• infamy
• infant
• infantile
• infantry
• nefarious
• preface

 

Translations

friendly, courteous, sociable

• Azerbaijani: gülərüz
• Bulgarian: приветлив (bg) (privetliv), вежлив (bg) (vežliv), любезен (bg) (ljubezen), внимателен (bg) (vnimatelen)
• Czech: vlídný (cs), přívětivý (cs)
• Dutch: gemoedelijk (nl), welwillend (nl)
• Esperanto: afabla (eo)
• Finnish: mukava (fi)
• French: aimable (fr)
• Galician: afábel (gl)
• German: umgänglich (de), affabel (de), freundlich (de), nett (de), leutselig (de)
• Italian: affabile (it)
• Kazakh: жайдары (jaidary)
• Latin: affābilis
• Maori: wahawaha, hoahoa, takahoahoa, whakahoahoa, hūmārie, ratarata
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: hyggelig (no), vennlig (no), elskverdig

• Plautdietsch: schaftich
• Polish: sympatyczny (pl), arcymiły (pl)
• Portuguese: afável (pt)
• Romanian: cordial (ro), afabil (ro)
• Russian: приве́тливый (ru) (privétlivyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: suairce
• Spanish: afable (es)
• Swedish: älskvärd (sv), förbindlig (sv), vänlig (sv)
• Turkish: arkadaş canlısı (tr)
• Ukrainian: привітний m (pryvitnyj), люб'язний m (ljubʺjaznyj)

mild; benign

• Czech: vlídný (cs), přívětivý (cs)
• French: doux (fr)
• German: umgänglich (de)
• Italian: bonario (it), amabile (it)
• Norwegian: velvillig (no), hyggelig (no)
• Polish: życzliwy (pl)
• Russian: любе́зный (ru) (ljubéznyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: tlàth
• Spanish: amable (es), tranquilo (es)
• Turkish: içten (tr)

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “affable”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin affābilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.fabl/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -abl
• Homophone: affables

Adjective

affable (plural affables)

1. affable, amicable, sociable

Related terms

• affablement
• affabuler
• affabilité

Further reading

• “affable”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.