Pleasurable

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ˈplɛʒəɹəbəl/

Definitions

1. Causing feelings of happiness, satisfaction, or enjoyment
2. Delivering sensations of joy, contentment, or delight
3. Inducing a state of gratification, satisfaction, or enjoyment

Etymology: "Pleasurable" is a plain formation: "pleasure" with the suffix "-able" added to it. The suffix has a long ancestry, traceable back through Old French and Latin to a Latin suffix meaning "able to be" or "capable of," which English took up in large numbers. Attaching it to "pleasure" produces a word meaning, literally, "capable of being pleasured," or more loosely, able to give pleasure. The noun "pleasure" itself carries most of the older history. It descends from Old French "plaisir," the verb "plaisir" used as a noun, which comes from Latin "placere," "to please." Many English words built on "-able" follow this pattern, so the suffix does the work of turning a feeling into a quality the thing itself possesses.

Synonyms: enjoyable, satisfying, delightful

Antonyms: unpleasant, disagreeable