sufferable
adjUS, UK /ˈsʌfəɹəb(ə)l/
Etymology
PIE word *upó From Middle English sufferable, souffrable (“bearable, endurable, tolerable; allowable, permissible; able to or willing to bear hardship; forbearing, long-suffering; calm, self-restrained, slow to anger; capable of suffering”), from Anglo-Norman sufferable, souffrable, and Old French souffrable, suffrable (“sufferable, tolerable”)), from Medieval Latin sufferābilis, from Latin sufferre + -ābilis (suffix meaning ‘able or worthy to be’). Sufferre is the present active infinitive of sufferō, subferō (“to bear or carry under; to bear, endure, suffer, undergo”), from sub- (prefix meaning ‘below, under’) + ferō (“to bear, carry; to endure, suffer, tolerate”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- (“to bear, carry”)). The English word is analysable as suffer + -able.
- Greek philosophers put it bluntly: "The best thing in the world is not to be born; but the second best is to die." Up to the point of suicide the suffering continues to be sufferable.2001, Walter Prytulak, On Pain Suffering: Reminiscences, Musings and Reflections, page 58:
- Related terms
- sufferableness, sufferably