affable

English

WOTD – 4 January 2009

Etymology

French affable, Latin affābilis, from affor ‎(“I address”), from ad + for ‎(“speak, talk”). See fable.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈæf.ə.bəl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Adjective

affable ‎(comparative more affable, superlative most affable)

1. Receiving others kindly and conversing with them in a free and friendly manner; friendly, courteous, sociable.
   • 1912: James Burrill Angell, The Reminiscences Of James Burrill Angell, chapter ix "Mission To The Ottoman Empire"

     Furthermore, I may say, that the Sultan was always most affable to me in my interviews with him, even when I had to discuss some missionary questions. In fact, I never saw any traces of the difficulties which Mr. Terrell reported.

2. Mild; benign.
   • 1998: Alexia Maria Kosmider, Tricky Tribal Discourse, page 84

     During more affable weather, the four friends congregate outside, sometimes leaning their hickory chairs against a "catapa" tree...

Synonyms

• (friendly, courteous): accessible, civil, complaisant, courteous, friendly, gracious
• (mild, benign): benign, mild, warm

Derived terms

• affability
• affableness
• affably

Translations

friendly, courteous, sociable

• Bulgarian: приветлив (bg) ‎(privetliv), вежлив (bg) ‎(vežliv), любезен (bg) ‎(ljubezen), внимателен (bg) ‎(vnimatelen)
• Czech: vlídný (cs) m, přívětivý (cs) m
• Esperanto: afabla (eo)
• Finnish: mukava (fi)
• French: amabilité (fr)
• German: umgänglich (de)
• Maori: wahawaha, hoahoa, takahoahoa, whakahoahoa, hūmārie
• Norwegian: hyggelig (no), vennlig (no)
• Polish: sympatyczny (pl) m

• Portuguese: afável (pt) m, f
• Romanian: cordial (ro), afabil (ro)
• Russian: приве́тливый (ru) ‎(privétlivyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: suairce
• Spanish: afable (es)
• Swedish: älskvärd (sv), förbindlig, vänlig (sv)
• Turkish: arkadaş canlısı (tr)

mild; benign

• Czech: vlídný (cs) m, přívětivý (cs) m
• German: umgänglich (de)
• Norwegian: velvillig, hyggelig (no)

• Polish: życzliwy (pl) m
• Russian: любе́зный (ru) ‎(ljubéznyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: tlàth
• Spanish: amable (es), tranquilo (es)
• Turkish: içten (tr)

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French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.fabl/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -abl
• Homophone: affables

Adjective

affable m, f ‎(plural affables)

1. affable, amicable, sociable

Related terms

• affablement
• affabuler
• affabilité

External links

• “affable” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).