effable

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛfəbl̩/

• Audio (General Australian):

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Etymology 1

From Latin effābilis (effor (“I utter”) + -able).

Adjective

effable (comparative more effable, superlative most effable)

1. (archaic, uncommon) Able to be spoken of; able to be expressed.

   Antonym: ineffable

   • 1872, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Christus: A Mystery:

     And leave me unto mine, if they be dreams,
     That take such shapes before me, that I see them;
     These effable and ineffable impressions
     Of the mysterious world, that come to me
     From the elements of
     Fire and Earth and Water,
     And the all-nourishing Ether!

   • 1873, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], Kenelm Chillingly: His Adventures and Opinions […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC:

     I could not have chosen better for myself than his highness has chosen for me: my only regret on quitting France is at leaving a prince so effable as Philip, and a courtier so virtuous as St. Simon.

   • 1996, Richard H. Cracroft, “Rendering the Ineffable Effable: Treating Joseph Smith's First Vision in Imaginative Literature”, in Brigham Young University Studies‎, volume 36, number 2, →ISSN, pages 93–116:

     This attempt by Joseph Smith Jr. to render effable the sublime and ineffable, to contain in words the appearance of the Father and the Son to him on that long ago spring morning in 1820, has become not only the foundational document and “fountainhead” of the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ, but also a touchstone of faith and orthodoxy for the Latter-day Saints.

Derived terms

• effably

Etymology 2

From eff (“fuck”) +‎ -able.

Adjective

effable (comparative more effable, superlative most effable)

1. (slang, euphemistic) Fuckable; sexually attractive.
   • 2005 October 10, Kourtney Kang, “Return of the Shirt”, in How I Met Your Mother, season 1, episode 4:

     Ted: It's… I… I… I can't explain it.
     Natalie: Try!
     Ted: It's… ineffable.
     Natalie: I'm not effable?

Further reading

• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors ((Can we date this quote?)), “effable”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.