viable

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French viable, with semantic influence of Latin viābilis (“passable”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈvaɪəbəl/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪəbəl
• Hyphenation: vi‧a‧ble

Adjective

viable (comparative more viable, superlative most viable)

1. Able to live on its own (as for a newborn).
2. Able to be done, possible, practicable, feasible.

   a viable option

3. Capable of working successfully
   • 2023 March 8, David Clough, “The long road that led to Beeching”, in RAIL, number 978, page 42:

     Barker believed that evidence was emerging that a "solid proportion" of operations were "grossly uneconomic", and that no amount of improvement in equipment would make them viable. He suggested that "while the superstructure of the report is correct, the foundations require radical re-examination".

4. (biology) Able to live and develop.

Antonyms

• inviable

Derived terms

• minimal viable product
• minimum viable product
• viability
• viably

 

Related terms

English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *gʷeyh₃- (0 c, 31 e)

Translations

able to live on its own

• Belarusian: жыццяздо́льны (žyccjazdólʹny)
• Bulgarian: жизнеспосо́бен (bg) (žiznesposóben)
• Catalan: viable (ca)
• Czech: životaschopný (cs) m
• Danish: levedygtig
• Dutch: levensvatbaar (nl)
• Esperanto: vivipova, vivebla
• Estonian: eluvõimeline, elujõuline
• Finnish: elinkelpoinen
• French: viable (fr)
• German: lebensfähig
• Greek: βιώσιμος (el) (viósimos)

  Ancient: βιώσιμος (biṓsimos)

• Hebrew: בר־חיות m (bar-khiyút), בר־קיימה m (bar-kayamá)
• Hungarian: életképes (hu)
• Italian: vivibile (it)
• Japanese: 生きられる (ja) (ikirareru), 生き残れる (ja) (ikinokoreru)
• Portuguese: viável (pt)
• Russian: жизнеспособный (ru) (žiznesposobnyj)
• Spanish: viable (es)
• Swedish: livsduglig (sv)
• Ukrainian: життєзда́тний (žyttjezdátnyj)

possible

• Bulgarian: възмо́жен (bg) (vǎzmóžen), осъществи́м (bg) (osǎštestvím)
• Catalan: viable (ca)
• Dutch: uitvoerbaar (nl)
• Esperanto: farebla
• Estonian: elluviidav
• Finnish: mahdollinen (fi)
• French: viable (fr)
• German: machbar (de)
• Greek: εφικτός (el) (efiktós), πραγματοποιήσιμος (el) (pragmatopoiísimos)
• Hebrew: אפשרי m (efsharí), בעל היתכנות m (báal hitakhnút)
• Hungarian: járható (hu)
• Italian: attuabile (it), fattibile (it), praticabile (it)
• Portuguese: viável (pt)
• Russian: возмо́жный (ru) (vozmóžnyj), осуществи́мый (ru) (osuščestvímyj)
• Spanish: viable (es)
• Swedish: genomförbar (sv)

(biology) able to live and develop

• Bulgarian: жизнеспосо́бен (bg) (žiznesposóben)
• German: überlebensfähig (de), lebensfähig, entwicklungsfähig
• Greek:

  Ancient: βιώσιμος (biṓsimos)

• Hebrew: בר־חיות m (bar-khiyút)
• Spanish: viable (es)

Noun

viable (plural viables)

1. (biology) An organism that is able to live and develop.

Further reading

• “viable”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “viable”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

French

Etymology

From vie (“life”) +‎ -able.

Adjective

viable (plural viables)

1. viable, feasible

Descendants

• → Portuguese: viável

Further reading

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

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbjable/ [ˈbja.β̞le]
• Rhymes: -able
• Syllabification: via‧ble

Adjective

viable m or f (masculine and feminine plural viables)

1. viable

Derived terms

• inviable
• viabilidad

 

Further reading

• “viable”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28