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I have an entity and I would like to describe it as being able to be archived.

Is it archivable, archiveable? The former seems OK for me, but I could find no wiktionary.org results.

KARASZI István
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3 Answers3

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Archivable is correct. -e more often than not drops off when adding -able (it varies a lot, mostly based on whether the word looks better with or without the e; I wouldn't say this is a case that greatly calls for keeping it, and the Google stats tend to indicate others agree).

chaos
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  • Simply correct or are there any better? :) – KARASZI István Feb 09 '11 at 10:48
  • @KARASZI István: If what you mean is that something can be archived, "archivable" is as good as it gets. – chaos Feb 09 '11 at 10:51
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    "Generally drops off" is a bold claim. Borrowing a leaf from ShreevatsaR: "tradeable, smokeable, driveable, shareable, canoeable, diagnoseable, disagreeable, dislikeable, fireable, foreseeable, handleable, hireable, machineable, microwaveable, removeable, settleable, throttleable, unforeseeable, unnameable, upgradeable, whistleable". And in British English: "likeable, liveable, rateable, saleable, sizeable, unshakeable". – RegDwigнt Feb 09 '11 at 10:53
  • @RegDwight: Well, I'd see that and raise you, but there are 69 words in a Debian /usr/share/dict/words that do appear to be formed by dropping -e and adding -able (excluding words formed by dropping more than a -e, like abominable), and the list is more than a hundred characters too long to post in a comment. I think you're right that "generally" is too much to say, though; it had been nagging at me too. – chaos Feb 09 '11 at 11:08
  • Interesting... especially as, at least I think so, that the -ing suffix on all those words would force the drop in the -e (like driving, trading, etc), with the exception of disagree (disagreeing). Would be interesting to know if there were a general rule for this. – HorusKol Feb 09 '11 at 22:28
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    @HorusKol: canoeing, disagreeing, foreseeing. I think a rule for "ing" is if the word ends in two vowels, you leave them both. – Peter Shor Oct 05 '11 at 20:01
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It is archivable, in the same way from cite you get citable.

There are some differences between British English and American English. In British English, such adjectives (derived from a verb ending in -e) are preferred when they end with -eable; in American English, the preferred form ends in -able (the -e is removed from the verb).
The dictionary I have (the NOAD) doesn't report the word archivable, but it reports citable as derivative of cite, and archival as derivative of archive.

apaderno
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The best reference point I can think of is "livable." I found this post because I had the same question about an interface I wanted to name "IArchivable." Looks to me like--regardless of how we got there, the consensus (on this side of the pond) is "archivable." So, that's what I'll be using!^)

phillihp
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