sufferable

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English

Etymology

PIE word
*upó

From Middle English sufferable, souffrable (bearable, endurable, tolerable; allowable, permissible; able to or willing to bear hardship; forbearing, long-suffering; calm, self-restrained, slow to anger; capable of suffering), from Anglo-Norman sufferable, souffrable, and Old French souffrable, suffrable (sufferable, tolerable)),[1] from Medieval Latin sufferābilis, from Latin sufferre[2] + -ābilis (suffix meaning ‘able or worthy to be’). Sufferre is the present active infinitive of sufferō, subferō (to bear or carry under; to bear, endure, suffer, undergo), from sub- (prefix meaning ‘below, under’) + ferō (to bear, carry; to endure, suffer, tolerate) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- (to bear, carry)). The English word is analysable as suffer +‎ -able.

Pronunciation

Adjective

sufferable (comparative more sufferable, superlative most sufferable) (archaic or obsolete)

  1. Able to suffer, endure, or tolerate.
    Synonyms: tolerant, patient.
    Antonym: insufferable
    Coordinate term: permissive (denotes negative judgment upon the toleration)
  2. Capable of being endured, tolerated, permitted, or allowed.
    Synonyms: endurable, tolerable, permissible, allowable
    Antonyms: insufferable, unendurable, intolerable, impermissible, unallowable
    • 2001, Walter Prytulak, On Pain Suffering: Reminiscences, Musings and Reflections, page 58:
      Greek philosophers put it bluntly: "The best thing in the world is not to be born; but the second best is to die." Up to the point of suicide the suffering continues to be sufferable.

References

  1. ^ sufferāble, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. ^ sufferable, adj.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2021; sufferable, adj.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading