Derivables

Part of speech: noun, adjective

Definitions

1. A category of financial assets that can be created from existing underlying instruments or securities
2. Items that can be derived from original sources to generate income or gain value
3. Financial products that depend on an underlying asset for their value, enabling traders to speculate or hedge against risks

Etymology: "Derive" comes from Latin "derivare," which meant to draw water off into a channel, from "de-" (away) and "rivus" (stream). The image is literal: someone diverts a stream from its main course to irrigate a field. English kept that sense of drawing something out from a source. The adjective adds the suffix "-able," meaning capable of being, so it describes anything that can be traced or drawn from an origin. The noun is a more specialized turn. In finance and business, "derivables" refers to the items that can be extracted from an original source to generate income or add value.

Synonyms: derivatives, extractables, obtainables

Antonyms: indeterminables, nonderivatives