Attachable

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Able to be secured to another object in a manner that allows for connection or integration with additional components
2. Capable of being joined or fixed to something else to form a unit
3. Suitable for being added or linked to another item securely

Etymology: "Attachable" is a plain English formation: the verb "attach" with the suffix "-able" added to it, meaning "able to be attached." The verb itself came into English from Old French "atachier," a word built on "estache," a stake or post, which goes back to a Germanic root meaning a stake or pole. So the core idea is literally fixing something to a post or stake. The original sense of "attach" was closer to seizing or arresting: to fasten a person or property by legal authority, a meaning still visible in phrases about attaching goods or wages. The gentler idea of joining one thing to another developed later, so "attachable" carries the stake-driving picture in a much milder form. The suffix "-able" has a longer ancestry. It descends from Latin "-bilis," which expressed capacity or fitness, and passed into English through Old French. Attaching "-able" to a verb produced the sense of something that can be done to it, which is why "attachable" describes parts that can be fixed together.

Synonyms: fixable, joinable, connectable, affixable, fastenable

Antonyms: detachable, removable, separable, disengageable, unlinkable