malleable

See also: malléable

English

Etymology

From Middle French malléable, borrowed from Late Latin malleābilis, derived from Latin malleāre (“to hammer”), from malleus (“hammer”), from Proto-Indo-European *mal-ni- (“crushing”), an extended variant of *melh₂- (“crush, grind”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmæl.iː.ə.bəl/
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): [ˈmaɫiəbəɫ]
  • (General American) IPA^(key): [ˈmæɫiəbɫ̩]
  • (New Zealand) IPA^(key): [ˈmɛɫiəbɫ̩], [-bɯ]

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: mal‧le‧a‧ble

Adjective

malleable (comparative more malleable, superlative most malleable)

1. Able to be hammered into thin sheets; capable of being extended or shaped by beating with a hammer, or by the pressure of rollers.
2. (figurative) Flexible, liable to change.

   My opinion on the subject is malleable.

   • 2024 May 11, Lorna Camus, Kirsty Jones, Emily O’Dowd, Bonnie Auyeung, Gnanathusharan Rajendran, Mary Elizabeth Stewart, “Autistic Traits and Psychosocial Predictors of Depressive Symptoms”, in Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, →DOI:

     The psychosocial factors in this study are malleable and provide target areas for enhancing mental health in those with high levels of autistic traits.

   • 2025 October 4, Maureen Dowd, “When A.I. Came for Hollywood”, in The New York Times‎^[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 5 October 2025:

     And all over Hollywood, suits are licking their chops at the prospect of more malleable actors. “She’s not going to talk back,” one top talent wrangler told me dryly.

3. (cryptography, of an algorithm) in which an adversary can alter a ciphertext such that it decrypts to a related plaintext

Coordinate terms

• ductile

Derived terms

• immalleable
• malleable iron
• malleableization
• malleableize
• malleablize
• nonmalleable
• semimalleable
• unmalleable

Related terms

• malleability
• malleableness
• malleably
• malleate

Translations

able to be hammered into thin sheets

• Azerbaijani: döyülə bilən
• Bulgarian: ковък (bg) (kovǎk)
• Catalan: mal·leable (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 可锻造的

• Czech: kujný (cs)
• Dutch: hamerbaar, smeedbaar (nl)
• Esperanto: maleebla
• Finnish: taottava (fi)
• French: malléable (fr)
• German: hämmerbar (de), schmiedbar (de), formbar (de), verformbar (de), dehnbar (de), plastisch (de), biegsam (de), biegbar (de), weich (de), geschmeidig (de), veränderbar (de), gestaltbar, knetbar (de)
• Hungarian: nyújtható (hu)
• Italian: malleabile (it)
• Macedonian: ко́влив (kóvliv)
• Maori: māngohe
• Norwegian: bøyelig (no), fleksibel, smidig (no)
• Persian: چکش خور (čakoš xor)
• Polish: kowalny m, kujny (pl) m
• Portuguese: maleável (pt)
• Romanian: maleabil (ro)
• Russian: ко́вкий (ru) (kóvkij), пластичный (ru) (plastičnyj)
• Slovak: kujný
• Spanish: maleable (es)
• Swedish: smidbar (sv)
• Tagalog: pukpukin
• Turkish: dövülgen (tr)

liable to change

• Bulgarian: податлив (bg) (podatliv)
• Czech: měnitelný m, poddajný (cs) m, tvarovatelný m, tvárný (cs) m
• Dutch: kneedbaar (nl), beïnvloedbaar (nl)
• Esperanto: ŝanĝebla
• Finnish: mukautuvainen
• German: veränderlich (de), flexibel (de), formbar (de), dehnbar (de), beeinflussbar (de)
• Hungarian: képlékeny (hu)
• Italian: malleabile (it), forgiabile (it)
• Macedonian: по́датлив (pódatliv), ме́нлив (ménliv)
• Manx: so-lhoobagh, so-chummeydagh
• Norwegian: fleksibel, smidig (no), formbar (no)
• Persian: قابل انعطاف (fa) (qâbel-e en'etâf), انعطاف پذیر (en'etâf pazir)
• Polish: podatny (pl) m
• Portuguese: maleável (pt)
• Romanian: maleabil (ro)
• Russian: пода́тливый (ru) (podátlivyj), восприимчивый (ru) (vospriimčivyj)
• Spanish: maleable (es)
• Swedish: smidbar (sv)

References

• “malleable”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.