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The former seems more natural to me, and is personally what I've used, but the latter is easier to pronounce.

user84614
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  • Why does pronounciable look more natural to you? – user 66974 Apr 16 '20 at 21:21
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    Actually the best orthography for the word is pronunceabill because it is both the earliest attested form and the most aesthetically cool :p – Laurel Apr 16 '20 at 21:21
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    The OED entry gives "rare" for "pronunciable" (one appearance every 100 million words...). I would estimate that 97.4% of the English speaking world would immediately think it was a typo or simply wrong. (PS: "correct" is an ungradeable adjective.) – Greybeard Apr 16 '20 at 21:32
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    Etymology has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to tell you about which of the possible forms a word might have are actually in use in a particular language at a particular time. (I don't do "correct" because I'm not interested in fashion, even in the part of fashion which applies to speech, and some people call "grammar". ) – Colin Fine Apr 16 '20 at 22:00
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    I can't find pronunciable in a dictionary. Did you find it? – Barmar Apr 16 '20 at 22:56

1 Answers1

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Pronunciable is incorrect. The correct adjective for ‘something that can be pronounced’ is pronounceable. Adjectives that end with the suffix -able are mostly formed from (transitive) verbs. In this case, the verb is ‘pronounce’:

  • pronounce (verb) + able → pronounceable
  • manage + able → manageable
  • update + able → updateable (updatable)
  • enjoy + able → enjoyable

Also note that you cannot remove the e from ‘pronounceable’ because if you do, it will turn the /s/ of ‘pronounce’ to a /k/ (*pronouncable).

Decapitated Soul
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