Stainable

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Susceptible to being marked or spoiled by impurities or color alterations
2. Possible to exhibit visible blemishes or discoloration from external substances
3. Able to have its surface discolored by contact with coloring agents or dirt

Etymology: "Stainable" is a plain formation: the English noun-turned-verb "stain" plus the suffix "-able", meaning "capable of being" or "liable to" what the base describes. Here the sense is "liable to discolour," so a stainable fabric is one that will take a mark easily. The suffix did not come into English directly from Latin. Its ancestor is the Latin "-abilis," which passed through Old French as "-able" and was borrowed into Middle English, where it became a productive way to coin adjectives. English speakers then attached it freely to native stems, and "stainable" belongs to that later, open-ended stage rather than to any inherited vocabulary.