Callable

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Capable of being called or summoned to appear or respond ; prepared to be invoked, as a function or method in programming
2. Having the quality of being reachable or summons-able by a call ; capable of being activated or executed when requested
3. Describes something that can be contacted or triggered by calling ; suited to be summoned into action or use

Etymology: "Callable" is a plain build: the verb "call" with the suffix "-able," meaning "capable of being." The suffix arrived in English through Old French "-able," which descends from Latin "-abilis," and Middle English took it up as "-able," so the word simply means "able to be called." Its meaning has stretched from the telephone and the summons to a computing sense, where a "callable" piece of code is one that can be invoked by other code. The verb "call" itself is much older than the suffix. It traces back through Middle English "callen" to Old English "ceallian," and it likely links to the Old Norse and Germanic roots that also gave English words for shouting, which is why "call" originally meant a loud cry before it came to mean summoning or naming.

Synonyms: reachable, contactable

Antonyms: unreachable, inaccessible