mutable

English

Etymology

From Middle English mutable, from Old French mutable, from Latin mutabilis (“liable to change”). By surface analysis, muta- +‎ -able.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmjuːtəbəl/, [ˈmjuːtəbl̩]
• Homophone: muteable

Adjective

mutable (comparative more mutable, superlative most mutable)

1. Changeable, dynamic, evolutive; inclined to change, evolve, mutate.
   • 1531, Thomas Elyot, “Of Constance or Stabilitie”, in The boke named the gouernour‎^[1], book III, page e4v:

     Vndoughtedly constaunce is an honourable vertue, as inconstance is reprochefull and odious. Wherfore that man whiche is mutable for euerye occasyon, muste nedes often repente hym, and in moche repentance is nat only moche foly, but also great detriment: whiche euery wyse man wyll eschue if he can.

   • c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:

     For the mutable ranke-ſented Meynie, / Let them regard me, as I doe not flatter, / And therein behold themſelues.

   • 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […].”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 83, lines 415–420:

     Maſters commands come with a power reſiſtleſs / To ſuch as owe them abſolute ſubjection; / And for a life who will not change his purpoſe? / (So mutable are all the ways of men) / Yet this be ſure, in nothing to comply / Scandalous or forbidden in our Law.

   • 1864, Rob S. Candlish, “The Fatherhood of God”, in The British and Foreign Evangelical Review, volume XIV, London: James Nisbet & Co., published 1865, page 748:

     It is in vain to interpose the explanation that the sonship was mutable. The Broad School do not say so ; and in so far they are consistent, for they recognise no power to produce the mutation.

2. (programming, of a variable) Having a value that is changeable during program execution.
   • 2011, David Flanagan, JavaScript: The Definitive Guide:

     A value of a mutable type can change. Objects and arrays are mutable: a JavaScript program can change the values of object properties and array elements. Numbers, booleans, null, and undefined are immutable.

3. (astrology) Being one of the signs Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces, associated with adaptability, flexibility and sympathy.

   Synonym: bicorporeal

   Coordinate terms: cardinal, fixed

Antonyms

• immutable

Translations

changeable

• Afrikaans: wispelturig
• Bulgarian: проме́нлив (bg) m (proménliv)
• Finnish: muuttuva (fi)
• French: mutable (fr) m or f
• German: mutabel (de), veränderlich (de), veränderbar (de)
• Hungarian: ingatag (hu)
• Latin: mūtābilis
• Manx: yn-chaghlaa
• Middle English: mutable
• Persian: دگرشپذیر
• Polish: zmienny (pl) m
• Portuguese: mutável (pt)
• Romanian: mutabil (ro), muabil (ro)
• Russian: изме́нчивый (ru) (izménčivyj)
• Serbo-Croatian: promjenljiv m
• Spanish: mutable
• Turkish: değişebilir (tr), değişken (tr)
• Vietnamese: có thể thay đổi

See also

• alterable
• nonimmutable

Noun

mutable (plural mutables)

1. Something mutable; a variable or value that can change.
   • 1990, Kenneth D. Bailey, Social Entropy Theory, page 281:

     Hypothesis 6.14: Entropy levels within the social group may vary but must be maintained below maximum entropy on certain relevant variables (e.g., on the six globals and five mutables).

Anagrams

• atumble

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /my.tabl/

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

mutable (plural mutables)

1. mutable, changeable
2. (programming) mutable

Further reading

• “mutable”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Middle English

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French mutable, from Latin mutabilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /miu̯ˈtaːbəl/, /miu̯ˈtaːblə/

Adjective

mutable (Late Middle English)

1. mutable, changeable, variable
2. wavering, fickle

Related terms

• immutable

Descendants

• English: mutable

References

• “mūtāble, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /muˈtable/ [muˈt̪a.β̞le]
• Rhymes: -able
• Syllabification: mu‧ta‧ble

Adjective

mutable m or f (masculine and feminine plural mutables)

1. Rare form of mudable.

Further reading

• “mutable”, 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