Comprehendible

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Able to be understood or grasped mentally
2. Capable of being mentally grasped or understood by someone
3. Able to be clearly comprehended or made sense of

Etymology: "Comprehendible" is formed from "comprehend" plus the suffix "-ible," which attaches to verb stems to mean "able to be" something. So the word literally means "able to be comprehended," and the same pattern produces words like "understandable" or "divisible." The base verb "comprehend" came into English from Latin "comprehendere," meaning "to seize, grasp or embrace together," built from "com-" (together) and "prehendere" (to grasp). The original sense was physical: to take hold of something. The mental sense of understanding developed from that image of gripping an idea with the mind. "Comprehendible" is the less common of two forms. English also has "comprehensible," which is built from the same Latin verb but through a different participle stem, and the two have long coexisted with nearly identical meanings. Dictionaries generally treat them as interchangeable, though "comprehensible" is the more frequent spelling in modern usage.

Synonyms: understandable, clear, intelligible

Antonyms: incomprehensible, unclear