Erasable

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Suitable for removal or modification without residual marks
2. Able to be eliminated or adjusted easily without leaving traces
3. Able to have marks or writing wiped out or deleted cleanly

Etymology: "Erasable" is built from "erase" plus the suffix "-able", meaning "capable of being". The verb "erase" traces back to Latin "ērāsus", the past participle of "ērādere", a compound of "ex" ("out") and "rādere" ("to scrape"). The Latin sense was literal: to scrape something off a surface, most often a wax writing tablet, which could be smoothed and reused. That physical picture of scraping marks away is still embedded in the modern meaning. The suffix took a longer route. The Latin "-bilis" passed into Old French as "-able", and English borrowed it from there in the Middle English period, so "erasable" joins a large family of words such as "readable" and "washable" that all share the same ending. Because "-able" can attach to almost any verb, English speakers can form a new adjective of this kind whenever they need one, which is why "erasable" is a straightforward formation rather than a word with a single coined moment.

Synonyms: removable, deletable, obliterable

Antonyms: indelible, permanent