Chargeable

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Responsible for liability or accusation ; capable of holding an electric charge or subject to a charge or fee
2. Subject to being blamed or held accountable ; suitable for receiving an electrical charge or for incurring a financial charge
3. Able to be held legally responsible or accused of wrongdoing ; able to contain or require an electrical power charge or a monetary cost

Etymology: The word is built from "charge" plus the suffix "-able", and the path of "charge" itself is the more interesting part. It descends from Latin "carrus", a wheeled vehicle, which the Gauls had borrowed as "karros" from a Celtic root. Latin turned it into the verb "carricāre", meaning to load a cart, and from there it passed through Late Latin "carricāre" into Old French "chargier", meaning to load or burden. A cart's load was the original idea, and the sense of an electrical charge or a bill to be paid grew out of the notion of a weight placed on something. The suffix "-able" arrived in English through Old French from Latin "-bilis", which marks something that can be done or undergone. Middle English "charge" combined with it to give the sense of something that can be loaded, burdened or blamed. The adjective therefore carries two strands: one about legal liability, as in a person chargeable with an offence, and one about money, as in a service that can be billed.

Synonyms: billable, assessable

Antonyms: nonchargeable