Affordable

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /əˈfɔː(ɹ).də.bəl/

Definitions

1. Priced within one's financial means or budget, not too expensive to purchase or maintain
2. Economically feasible for individuals or households, ensuring the cost does not exceed their limited financial resources or create hardship
3. Having a price that is manageable for people with average incomes

Etymology: "Affordable" is a plain English compound: the verb "afford" with the suffix "-able" attached. "Afford" itself goes back to Old English "geforthian," meaning "to further" or "to accomplish," and only later came to mean having the means to pay for something. The suffix "-able" is the more interesting part of the chain. It descends from Latin "-abilis," which turned verbs into adjectives meaning "able to be done," and it reached English by way of Old French "-able," which is why so many English adjectives ending in "-able" have French-looking forms. The modern sense of "affordable" builds on the older one. Someone who could afford something once was simply able to bring it about or bear its cost, and the adjective followed the same logic: a price that could be borne. The idea of "not too expensive" is therefore a narrowing of "able to be paid for" toward the cheap end of the scale.

Synonyms: reasonable, economical, inexpensive, budget-friendly, cheap

Antonyms: expensive, costly, unaffordable, pricey, luxurious