lovable

English

Alternative forms

• loveable

Etymology

From Middle English lovable, loveable, luffeabill, lufabul, equivalent to love +‎ -able.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlʌvəbəl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Adjective

lovable (comparative more lovable or lovabler, superlative most lovable or lovablest)

1. Inspiring or deserving love or affection; adorable or cute.
   • 1895, M[ollie] E[velyn] M[oore] Davis, “Prologue. The Town and the River.”, in Under the Man-Fig, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company; Cambridge, Mass.: The Riverside Press, →OCLC, page 6:

     In short, the old town—the lovablest, old-timiest, easy-goingest old town that ever was—sits there by the River, hugging its traditions, and hoarding its stories, of which it has enough to make a new Thousand and One Nights.

   • 1908 July 6, S[amuel] L[anghorne] Clemens, “A Letter from Mark Twain: Innocence at Home”, in Collier’s, volume XLI, number 20, New York, N.Y.: P[eter] F[enelon] Collier & Son, published 8 August 1908, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 22, column 2:

     Hon. Collier Weekly which furnish Japanese Schoolboy to public not often enough, when is his book coming out? […] That Boy is the dearest & sweetest & frankest & wisest & funniest & delightfulest & lovablest creation that has been added to our literature for a long time.

     Transcription: Benjamin Griffin, Harriet Elinor Smith, editors (2015), “Explanatory Notes”, in Autobiography of Mark Twain (The Mark Twain Papers), volume 3, Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, →ISBN, page 599.

   • 1921, L[ucy] M[aud] Montgomery, “Mr. Hyde Goes to His Own Place and Susan Takes a Honeymoon”, in Rilla of Ingleside, Toronto, Ont.: McClelland and Stewart, →OCLC, page 359:

     “[…] You’ll let Jims come here often, won’t you? I love him dearly.” / “No doubt you do, miss, for a lovabler child I never did see. […]”

   • 1939 May 4, James Joyce, Finnegans Wake, London: Faber and Faber Limited, →OCLC; republished London: Faber & Faber Limited, 1960, →OCLC, part II, pages 375–376:

     The wonder of the women of the world together, moya! And the lovablest Lima since Ineen MacCormick MacCoort MacConn O’Puckins MacKundred.

   • 2021 February 9, Christina Newland, “Is Tom Hanks part of a dying breed of genuine movie stars?”, in BBC‎^[1]:

     In A League of Their Own (1992), as the shouty baseball coach to an all-girls team, he's once again a curmudgeonly but lovable mentor figure.

   • 2023 January 27, Patrick Connolly, “Meet the Orlando rescue dogs playing in Puppy Bowl XIX”, in Orlando Sentinel‎^[2]:

     At 20 pounds, Jimmy Kibble is a lovable, beautiful pomsky — a cross between a Pomeranian and a husky. But he has a lot of energy.

Derived terms

• lovableness
• lovably
• unlovable

Translations

inspiring love

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Bulgarian: обичен (bg) (običen), симпатичен (bg) (simpatičen)
• Catalan: amable (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 可愛 / 可爱 (zh) (kě'ài)

• Czech: líbezný (cs)
• Danish: elskverdig
• Dutch: beminnelijk (nl)
• Esperanto: aminda
• Finnish: rakastettava (fi), herttainen (fi)
• French: aimable (fr), adorable (fr)
• Galician: amable (gl)
• German: liebenswert (de), reizend (de)
• Greek: αξιαγάπητος (el) (axiagápitos)
• Hindi: please add this translation if you can
• Hungarian: szerethető, szeretetre méltó, szeretni való, (cute, nice) kedves (hu), aranyos (hu)
• Irish: grámhar
• Italian: adorabile (it), amabile (it)
• Japanese: 愛らしい (ja) (airashii)
• Latin: amābilis (la)
• Māori: mateoha
• Middle English: lovable, lovesom
• Persian: please add this translation if you can
• Plautdietsch: leeftolich
• Portuguese: amável (pt)
• Russian: ми́лый (ru) (mílyj)
• Spanish: adorable (es), amable (es)
• Swedish: älskvärd (sv)
• Turkish: sevilen (tr)
• Ukrainian: please add this translation if you can
• Vietnamese: đáng yêu (vi), dễ thương (vi)

Middle English

Etymology 1

From loven (“to love”) +‎ -able.

Alternative forms

• loveable
• lufabul, luff-able, luffeabill (Northern)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /luˈvaːblə/, /luˈvaːbəl/

Adjective

lovable

1. Lovable (deserving love)

   Synonym: lovesom

2. Friendly, affectionate (providing love)

   Synonyms: lovely, lovesom

Descendants

• English: lovable, loveable

References

• “lǒvāble, adj.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Etymology 2

From loven (“to praise”) +‎ -able.

Alternative forms

• loveable, lovabille
• lovabil, lovabile (Northern)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lɔːˈvaːblə/, /lɔːˈvaːbəl/
• (influenced by Etymology 1) IPA^(key): /luˈvaːblə/, /luˈvaːbəl/

Adjective

lovable

1. praiseworthy, commendable, excellent
2. nonharmful, healthful

Descendants

• Middle Scots: loveabill

References

• “lǒvāble, adj.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.