Delitable

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Able to be erased, removed, or eliminated from a document, record, or system
2. Capable of being struck out or taken away without affecting the essential whole
3. Something that can be canceled, expunged, or done away with

Etymology: "Delitable" is a spelling variant of "delightable," meaning something that gives delight. The word came into Middle English as "delitable," borrowed from Old French of the same form, and it grew out of the same stock as "delectable." The two words are doublets: they descend from one Latin root, "delectabilis," that split into two forms as it passed through French, one of which kept a closer resemblance to the Latin and one of which drifted further from it. Its modern English shape comes from "delight" plus the suffix "-able," which means "capable of being" or "fit for." Speakers and writers came to see "delight" as the root here, so the spelling "delightable" with its visible "light" became the usual form, while "delitable" survived as a older variant. "Delectable" kept the Latin-like spelling and took on a more formal flavour, which is why the two now sound different even though they share an ancestor.

Synonyms: delightful, pleasant

Antonyms: unpleasant, disagreeable