Answerableness

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The characteristic of a question or statement that allows it to be responded to or addressed
2. A trait of inquiries or claims that makes them capable of receiving a reply or solution
3. The attribute of a prompt or message that permits an answer or explanation to be given

Etymology: Answerableness is a plain English compound: "answerable" with the suffix "-ness" added to turn the quality into a noun. The base is "answer," which comes from Old English "andswerian," itself built from "and-" (against, in return) and a root meaning "swear" or "pledge," so the original idea was of making a formal reply, a response bound to a counter-statement. "Answerable" then came to mean that something could be answered, or that someone was accountable for something, and English took the "-able" ending from Old French, where it came from Latin "-abilis." Adding "-ness," an Old English suffix that turns adjectives into nouns of quality, produced "answerableness," which describes the condition of being able to be responded to. It is a rare word, used mainly in discussions of logic, debate and philosophy when someone needs a noun for how well a question can be addressed.