Affectability

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /əfɛktəˈbɪlɪti/

Definitions

1. The capacity to be influenced emotionally or mentally by external factors
2. An individual's susceptibility to changing feelings or thoughts due to outside stimuli
3. The quality of being prone to emotional or mental influence from surrounding conditions

Etymology: "Affectability" is a plain formation: the noun "affect" (in its sense of an emotional or mental state, as in psychology) combined with the suffix "-ability," which turns a verb into a noun meaning the capacity to be or do something. The word therefore literally means "capacity to be affected," so a person high in affectability is easily moved or influenced by what happens around them. The notable point is the pairing of two words that each carry a shift in meaning. "Affect" comes from Latin "affectare," meaning to aim at or strive for, and in English it has long covered both physical influence and emotional response. The "-ability" suffix, borrowed through French from Latin "-abilis," meaning able to be, is attached to that sense of being influenced, so the new noun names susceptibility rather than the act of influencing.