personable

English

WOTD – 26 March 2025

Etymology

From Late Middle English personable, personabil (“having a pleasing appearance, handsome”), and then from both of the following:

• For sense 1 (“having a pleasing appearance”) and sense 2 (“having a pleasant manner”) (these senses are not found in Old French or Medieval Latin), probably from person, personne, persoun (“individual, person”) + -āble (suffix meaning ‘able or worthy to be’ forming adjectives).
• For sense 3.1 (“synonym of personal”) and sense 3.2 (“being a legal person”), from Middle French personable and Old French personable, and from their etymon Medieval Latin personābilis (“personal”), possibly from Medieval Latin persōna (“person”) + Latin -ābilis (suffix meaning ‘able or worthy to be’).

By surface analysis, person +‎ -able (suffix meaning ‘relevant or suitable to’).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɜːsn̩əbl/, /ˈpɜːs(ə)nəbəl/

• Audio (Received Pronunciation):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɜɹs(ə)nəb(ə)l/
• Hyphenation: per‧son‧a‧ble

Adjective

personable (comparative more personable, superlative most personable)

2. Of a person: having a pleasing appearance; attractive; handsome.

   Synonyms: good-looking; see also Thesaurus:beautiful

   Antonyms: unattractive, unpersonable; see also Thesaurus:ugly

   • 1722 (indicated as 1721), [Daniel Defoe], The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders, &c. […], London: […] W[illiam Rufus] Chetwood, […]; and T. Edling, […], published 1722, →OCLC, page 263:

     I vvas Tall and Perſonable, but a little too ſmooth Fac'd for a Man; hovvever as I ſeldom vvent Abroad, but in the Night it did vvell enough; […]

   • 1822 May 29, [Walter Scott], chapter VIII, in The Fortunes of Nigel. […], volume II, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, page 182:

     I admit him a personable man, for I have seen him; and I will suppose him courteous and agreeable.

   • 1908, E[dward] M[organ] Forster, “Twelfth Chapter”, in A Room with a View, London: Edward Arnold, →OCLC, part II, page 204:

     He regarded himself as dressed. Barefoot, bare-chested, radiant and personable against the shadowy woods, he called: "Hullo, Miss Honeychurch! Hullo!"

4. Of a person: having a pleasant manner; amiable, friendly.

   Synonyms: affable, agreeable, likeable; see also Thesaurus:friendly

   Antonyms: unpersonable; see also Thesaurus:hostile

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 5, page 445:

     A thouſand thoughts ſhe faſhioned in her mind, / And in her feigning fancie did pourtray / Him ſuch, as fitteſt he for loue could find, / VViſe, vvarlike, perſonable, courteous, and kind.

   • 1919, Joseph A[lexander] Altsheler, “Music in the Moonlight”, in The Sun of Quebec: A Story of a Great Crisis (The French and Indian War Series; 6), New York, N.Y.: Appleton-Century-Crofts, →OCLC, page 88:

     I'm bound to admit that you're a personable young rascal, with the best manners I've met in a long time, but I warn you that you can't go far.

   • 2003 September 22, Randy James, quoting Stephanie Birkitt, “2-Min. Bio: Stephanie Birkitt: Letterman’s Lover?”, in Time‎^[1], New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., published 5 October 2009, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2010-10-25:

     Aside from being incredibly funny and personable he [David] Letterman is generous, kind and is great fun to play catch with.

     Quoted from Window on Wake Forest (23 September 2003).

5. (obsolete)
   2. (rare) Synonym of personal (“done in person, without an intermediary”).
   4. (law) Being a legal person and thus able to maintain a plea in court, or to hold some property or right.
      • [1468, “Petitions of the Commons, with Their Summons”, in William Prynne, editor, An Exact Abridgement of the Records in the Tower of London, from the Reign of King Edward the Second, unto King Richard the Third, […], London: […] William Leake […], published 1657, →OCLC, page 683:

        It is enacted, that the Kings Letters Patents hereafter enſuing made to Queen Elizabeth of her dovver, ſhall be good, and that the Queen be by that name perſonable to plead, and be impleaded, that parcell of her dovver aſſigned by the Kings Letters Patents under the ſeal of the Dutchy of Lancaſter be good, albeit there be no livery and ſeiſin delivered vpon the ſame, vvherein are certain proviſions.

        Written in Late Middle English.]

      • 1607, Iohn [i.e., John] Cowell, “Personable”, in The Interpreter: Or Booke Containing the Signification of Words: Wherein is Set Foorth the True Meaning of All, or the Most Part of Such Words and Terms, as are Mentioned in the Lawe Writers, or Statutes of This Victorious and Renowned Kingdome, Requiring any Exposition or Interpretation. […], Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Iohn Legate, →OCLC, signature Bbb 4, recto, column 1:

        The demaundant vvas iudged perſonable to maintaine this action. […] The tenent pleaded that the vvife vvas an alien borne in Portingall vvithout the ligeance of the King, and Iudgement vvas asked vvhether ſhe vvould be anſvvered. The plaintife ſaith: ſhee vvas made perſonable by Parlament, that is, as the Ciuillians vvould ſpeake it, habere perſonam ſtandi in iudicio.

Alternative forms

• parsonable, personible (obsolete, 18th–19th c.)

Derived terms

• impersonable
• personability
• personableness
• personably
• unpersonable

Translations

of a person: having a pleasing appearance — see attractive,‎ handsome

of a person: having a pleasant manner — see also amiable,‎ friendly

• Bulgarian: представителен (bg) (predstavitelen)
• Dutch: aantrekkelijk (nl)
• Finnish: miellyttävä (fi), mukava (fi)
• German: ansehnlich (de), freundlich (de), sympathisch (de), von angenehmer Erscheinung
• Irish: dathúil, pearsanta, pearsantach
• Macedonian: please add this translation if you can
• Polish: przyjazny (pl) m, przyjemny (pl) m, sympatyczny (pl) m
• Russian: приятный (ru) (prijatnyj)
• Spanish: amable (es), simpatico
• Swedish: trevlig (sv)