able-bodied

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

English able body

Middle English -ed

English -ed

English able-bodied

From able body + -ed.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈeɪ.bl̩ˌbɑ.did/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: a‧ble-bod‧ied

Adjective

able-bodied (comparative more able-bodied, superlative most able-bodied)

1. (possessional) Having a sound, strong body; physically competent; robust; fit for service.
   • 1893, James Anthony Froude, History of England from the Fall of Wolsey to the Defeat of the Spanish Armada:

     A servant determinately idle, leaving his work, or an able-bodied vagrant, roaming the country without means of honest self-support and without seeking employment, was to be brought before the two nearest magistrates.

   • 2005, Annabelle du Fouet, “The murky world from whence it all came” (chapter 2), in Weather Balloons Make Rotten Sex Toys, Ellora's Cave, →ISBN, page 48:

     It’s little wonder that Spanish invaders, led by Hernán Cortés, so easily conquered the Aztecs. By the time they arrived, most of the able-bodied men were dead either from having their hearts yanked out or falling off the pyramid.

2. Not disabled; having no physical disability.

   Synonyms: abled, (less common) enabled

   Antonym: disabled

   Unfair discrimination between the able-bodied and the disabled is illegal in many places.

3. (nautical) Capable of performing all requisite duties as a seaman, specifically in the Royal Navy, a rating between leading and ordinary.

Derived terms

• able-bodiedism
• able-bodiedness
• able-bodied seaman
• non-able-bodied
• temporarily able-bodied

Related terms

• ableism

Translations

having a sound, strong body; physically competent; robust

• Catalan: robust (ca)
• Danish: arbejdsfør
• Dutch: volwaardig (nl), lichamelijk geschikt, valide (nl), robust (nl)
• Finnish: palveluskelpoinen, kenttäkelpoinen (fit for military service), työkykyinen (fi) (capable of working), terve (fi) (sound), kynnelle kykenevä
• French: robuste (fr), solide (fr)
• Irish: infheidhme
• Māori: mārōrō, marohi, mārohirohi
• Portuguese: pessoa sem deficiência f, não-deficiente, capaz (pt), robusto (pt) m
• Serbo-Croatian: jak (sh), čio (sh), krepak (sh)
• Spanish: sin discapacidad
• Swedish: arbetsför (sv)

(Nautical)

• Dutch: volslagen (nl), bevaren (nl)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Vietnamese: ^{(please verify)} khoẻ mạnh (vi), ^{(please verify)} đủ tiêu chuẩn sức khoẻ