Processability

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The quality of something that allows it to be handled or treated by a process
2. A characteristic describing how easily a material or data can undergo processing
3. The capability of an object or information to be efficiently subjected to a particular procedure

Etymology: Processability is a plain construction: the English noun "process" with the suffix "-ability" attached. That suffix has a long pedigree. It descends from the Latin "-abilitas", formed from "-abilis" (capable of being, able to be) and the abstract ending "-tas", and it arrived in English partly through Middle French "-abilite" and partly through the English suffix "-ability" built on those models. In other words, the "-able" in "processable" and the "-ity" in "processability" each came into English by separate routes before being combined. The suffix was productive for centuries, which explains why English can attach it to almost any verb. "Process" itself comes from Latin "processus", meaning a going forward or progress, so the full word literally expresses the capacity of something to be taken forward through a series of operations. Its first recorded use is not documented in the source, so the sense of the noun is best understood as a modern technical coinage, most at home in computing and manufacturing.

Synonyms: usability, functionality, operability, adaptability, manageability