Vanishable

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Able to disappear or cease to exist from sight or presence
2. Describing something that can vanish or become no longer perceptible
3. Having the quality of fading away or stopping being observable

Etymology: "Vanishable" is a plain formation: the verb "vanish" with the suffix "-able," which turns a verb into an adjective meaning "capable of being" the action the verb names. So a vanishable thing is one that is able to vanish, or disappear. "Vanish" itself came into English from Old French "evanir," which in turn came from Latin "evanescere," meaning "to fade away" or "dissolve into thin air." The Latin word was built from "e-" (out) and "vanescere," an inchoative form of "vanus," empty or unreal. The ancestry therefore points to something emptied out or made void, which is a fitting root for a word about disappearing. The suffix "-able" comes from Latin "-abilis," passed through Old French, and attaches readily to English verbs, so "vanishable" follows the same pattern as words like "breakable" or "washable." Because the suffix is so productive, the word is easy to coin and needs no special history of its own.

Synonyms: disappearing, evanescent

Antonyms: permanent