Restorable

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Possible to return to a previous condition or appearance
2. Able to be returned to its original or former state or condition
3. Fit to be repaired or brought back to a previous good state

Etymology: The word is a simple build: the verb "restore" plus the suffix "-able," which means "able to be" or "fit for." The suffix has a long ancestry. It descends from the Latin "-abilis," itself formed from the verb ending "-are" plus the adjective-forming "-bilis," and that Latin ending reaches back to Proto-Indo-European roots of the kind that produced many "-ble" words across the family. Through Old French "-able," it arrived in Middle English as a productive ending, and English speakers have attached it to verbs ever since. Once "-able" joined "restore," the result meant something that could be brought back to its earlier condition. "Restore" itself came into English from Old French "restorer," which drew on Latin "restaurare," meaning to rebuild or renew. So the adjective carries the sense of rebuilding, not simply of returning something to a former place.

Synonyms: recoverable, repairable, refurbishable

Antonyms: irreparable, destroyed