Recallable

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. The ability to be retrieved from memory or brought to consciousness again is inherent to this concept
2. It denotes the characteristic of something that can be brought back into one’s awareness or memory when needed
3. Possessing the quality that allows something to be remembered or brought back to mind when required

Etymology: "Recallable" is about as transparent as English compounds get: it is "recall" with the suffix "-able" attached, and the result means something that can be called back. The base word "recall" comes from Latin "recalläre," a combination of "re-" (back) and "calläre" (to call), which is also the root of "call" itself through Old English and Old Norse ancestry. So the word's core idea is literally "call back" twice over, once in its verb and once in the ability it describes. The suffix "-able" comes from Latin "-abilis," meaning capable of being, and it was attached to English words freely from the late Middle Ages onward. Because of this, "recallable" is a modern formation built from parts English already had, rather than a word borrowed from another language.

Synonyms: retrievable, restorable, reclaimable, recoverable, accessible

Antonyms: irretrievable, unrecoverable, lost, forgotten, dismissed