Creating words with "-able" suffix
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Chapters
00:00 Creating Words With &Quot;-Able&Quot; Suffix
00:30 Accepted Answer Score 6
00:54 Answer 2 Score 11
01:46 Answer 3 Score 1
02:19 Thank you
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Full question
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Tags
#adjectives #orthography #suffixes #ableeable
#avk47
ANSWER 1
Score 11
As the NOAD reports, -able is a suffix forming adjectives meaning:
- able to be: calculable.
- due to be: payable.
- subject to: taxable.
- relevant to or in accordance with: fashionable.
- having the quality to: suitable, comfortable.
The meaning of tile-able would be to be able to be tiled.
The spelling checker I am using reports the word as wrong, but it suggests also tile-able.
As reported in Common Sense (ISBN 13: 978-0-312-34255-5; ISBN 10: 0-312-34255-1), a book about punctuation marks, a hyphen is used in words consisting of a prefix and a root, if not using one will cause to run together either two vowels or a small letter and a capital.
- anti-inflammatory
- un-American
- extra-alkaline
- pre-Christian
ACCEPTED ANSWER
Score 6
The way I see it, you've got two choices here if the word doesn't already have an acceptable -able suffix counterpart. Either
- Reword the sentence so you don't need to use the -able suffix
- Hyphenate it. E.g. tile-able.
Although, Googling it, 'tileable' seems to be pretty widely used anyway.
ANSWER 3
Score 1
The Oxford Dictionary of American Usage and Style by Bryan A. Garner has a helpful list under ‑able, including the choice between ‑able and ‑ible, attaching ‑able to nouns, to intransitive verbs, converting ‑ate verbs into ‑able adjectives, and even on dropping or retaining the medial ‑e‑.
A quick reference table is on the Oxford Reference. You can try the Google Books source at ODAUS p4 for the detailed treatment.
Survey of English Spelling by Edward Carney explains some etymological (source language) factors of the “spelling problem”.