comfortable
/ˈkʌmfətəbəl/KUHM-fur-tuh-buhl
/ˈkʌmfɚtəbəl/KUHM-fur-tuh-buhl
Meaningable to give strength
Common meaning: giving physical ease
Other meanings: free from worry
- comwith, together
- fortstrong, braveLewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), p. 770 · scan
- ableable to be
‘with, together’ + ‘strong, brave’ → comfortable
Journey through time
- Latinfortis‘strong, brave’
- Englishcomfort‘ease of body or mind’
- Englishformed in English from comfortcomfortable‘giving physical ease’ · today
Sources & notes
Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.
Pronunciation
- UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
- No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
- US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
- No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.
Origin: Formed in English from comfort + -able.
Dictionary: Skeat (1898), COMFORT, p.123 · scan
Roots
- fortis Latin “strong, brave”
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