entry
ability
/əˈbɪləti/the capacity or skill to do something
From Latin habilis (apt).
from Latin habilitās (“aptness, ability”)
from Old French ableté "ability (to inherit),"
+1 more sourcefrom Middle English abilite (“suitability, aptitude, ability”)
Word Ancestry
from Latin habilitās (“aptness, ability”)
from Old French ableté "ability (to inherit),"
+1 more sourcefrom Middle English abilite (“suitability, aptitude, ability”)
Picture a medieval legal document discussing whether someone was fit to inherit property: that is the neighborhood where ability first lived, in Old French ableté. The word ultimately goes back to Latin habilis, “easy to manage” or “handy,” so an able person was originally someone who could be put to practical use—not merely a gifted thinker. English borrowed it in the 1300s, and by the 1580s abilities had broadened into talents and mental endowments. There is a tiny historical oddity hiding in its spelling: Latin’s h was silent, and English kept it silent even after sixteenth- and seventeenth-century scholars tried to restore it. So ability looks as though it ought to begin with a pronounced h, but its old Latin ghost remains mute.
The Story
Picture a medieval legal document discussing whether someone was fit to inherit property: that is the neighborhood where ability first lived, in Old French ableté. The word ultimately goes back to Latin habilis, “easy to manage” or “handy,” so an able person was originally someone who could be put to practical use—not merely a gifted thinker. English borrowed it in the 1300s, and by the 1580s abilities had broadened into talents and mental endowments. There is a tiny historical oddity hiding in its spelling: Latin’s h was silent, and English kept it silent even after sixteenth- and seventeenth-century scholars tried to restore it. So ability looks as though it ought to begin with a pronounced h, but its old Latin ghost remains mute.
Modern Usage
A humorous productive suffix-like element used to coin playful forms such as “sexability,” “pushability,” or “failability.”
Notable References
- Urban Dictionary entries for “ability”
Kin & Kindred
From 'habilis'·apt, fit, skillful, able
Derived Terms
English words from this root
Sources
Urban Dictionary
Wikipedia
Wiktionary