memorable

See also: mémorable

English

Etymology

From Middle English memorable, memorrable, from Latin memorābilis, from memorō (“to bring to remembrance”), from memor (“mindful, remembering”). By surface analysis, memory +‎ -able, see memory. Doublet of memorabile (singular of memorabilia).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɛm(ə)ɹəbl̩/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: mem‧or‧able

Adjective

memorable (comparative more memorable, superlative most memorable)

1. Worthy to be remembered; very important or remarkable.

   a memorable holiday

   • 1599, John Davies, Nosce Teipsum:

     Men have surviving Fame to gain,
     By Tombs, by Books, by memorable Deeds

   • 1999 December 22, Jacques Steinberg, “Behind Squeaky Elmo, 6 Feet of Baritone”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     But Mr. Hunt hated the character immediately -- Elmo wasn't edgy enough -- and, on one memorable morning, brought him into the Muppeteers' lounge "hanging by the rods," the chopsticklike bars that control his paws.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:memorable

Derived terms

• memorableness
• memorability
• memorably

Translations

worthy of being remembered

• Afrikaans: gedenkwaardig
• Bulgarian: паметен (bg) (pameten), незабравим (bg) (nezabravim)
• Catalan: memorable (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 難忘 / 难忘 (zh) (nánwàng), 值得紀念的 / 值得纪念的 (zhíde jìniàn de)

• Danish: mindeværdig
• Dutch: memorabel (nl), gedenkwaardig (nl)
• Esperanto: memorinda
• Finnish: mieleenpainuva
• French: mémorable (fr)
• Galician: memorábel (gl)
• German: denkwürdig (de), merkwürdig (de), einprägsam (de)
• Greek: αξιομνημόνευτος (el) (axiomnimóneftos)
• Hindi: स्मरणीय (hi) (smarṇīya)
• Hungarian: emlékezetes (hu)
• Icelandic: eftirminnilegur (is), minnistæður
• Latin: memorābilis
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: minneverdig, minnerik

  Nynorsk: minneverdig, minnerik

• Old English: ġemyndelīċ
• Plautdietsch: denkjwieet
• Polish: pamiętny (pl)
• Portuguese: memorável (pt)
• Romanian: memorabil (ro)
• Russian: па́мятный (ru) (pámjatnyj), запомина́ющийся (zapominájuščijsja)
• Spanish: memorable (es), inolvidable (es)
• Swedish: minnesvärd (sv)

Noun

memorable (plural memorables)

1. Something interesting enough to be remembered.
   • 1870, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Passages from the English Note-books of Nathaniel Hawthorne, page 237:

     These were all the memorables of our visit to Dumbarton Castle, which is a most interesting spot, and connected with a long series of historical events.

References

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

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin memorābilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [mə.muˈɾab.blə]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [mə.moˈɾab.blə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [me.moˈɾa.ble]

• Audio (Central):

  (file)

Adjective

memorable m or f (masculine and feminine plural memorables)

1. memorable

Related terms

• memòria

Further reading

• “memorable”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], 2007 April
• “memorable”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025.
• “memorable” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “memorable” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin memorābilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /memoˈɾable/ [me.moˈɾa.β̞le]
• Rhymes: -able
• Syllabification: me‧mo‧ra‧ble

Adjective

memorable m or f (masculine and feminine plural memorables)

1. memorable

Derived terms

• memorablemente

Related terms

• memoria

Further reading

• “memorable”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10