habitable

English

Etymology

From Middle English abitable, habytable, from Middle French habitable, from Latin habitābilis (“habitable”), from habitō (“dwell, live”). By surface analysis, habit (“inhabit”) +‎ able.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈhæbɪtəbəl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Adjective

habitable (comparative more habitable, superlative most habitable)

1. Safe and comfortable, where humans, or other animals, can live; fit for habitation.

   After we found the freshwater spring we were more confident that the place was habitable.

   Humankind has never found any other habitable planets apart from Earth.

   • 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Planets: Feros Codex entry:

     Feros is a habitable world in the Attican Beta cluster. Two-thirds of the habitable surface is covered with the ruins of a crumbling Prothean megatropolis.

2. Of an astronomical object: capable of supporting, or giving rise to, life.

Synonyms

• inhabitable

Antonyms

• unhabitable
• uninhabitable

Derived terms

• habitable epoch
• habitableness
• habitable zone
• habitably
• nonhabitable
• semihabitable
• superhabitable

Related terms

• habitability
• habitat
• inhabitable

Translations

where humans or other animals can live — see also inhabitable

• Bulgarian: обитаем (bg) (obitaem)
• Catalan: habitable (ca)
• Czech: obyvatelný (cs)
• Dutch: bewoonbaar (nl), bewoonbare (nl)
• Esperanto: enloĝebla
• Finnish: asuttava (fi), asuinkelpoinen
• German: bewohnbar (de), habitabel (de)
• Greek: κατοικήσιμος (el) (katoikísimos)
• Hungarian: lakható (hu)
• Interlingua: habitabile
• Italian: abitabile (it)
• Latin: habitabilis (la)
• Plautdietsch: bewonboa
• Portuguese: habitável (pt)
• Romagnol: abitàbil
• Romanian: locuibil (ro)
• Russian: приго́дный для жи́зни (prigódnyj dlja žízni), го́дный для жилья́ (gódnyj dlja žilʹjá), жило́й (ru) (žilój)
• Spanish: habitable (es)
• Swedish: beboelig (sv)

inhabited — see inhabited

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin habitābilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [ə.βiˈtab.blə]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [ə.biˈtab.blə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [a.biˈta.ble]
• Homophone: evitable (Central)

Adjective

habitable m or f (masculine and feminine plural habitables)

1. habitable, inhabitable

   Antonym: inhabitable

Related terms

• habitabilitat

Further reading

• “habitable”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], 2007 April
• “habitable”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025.
• “habitable” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “habitable” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin habitābilis.

Pronunciation

• ^{(mute h)} IPA^(key): /a.bi.tabl/

Adjective

habitable (plural habitables)

1. habitable, inhabitable

   Antonym: inhabitable

Further reading

• “habitable”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin habitābilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /abiˈtable/ [a.β̞iˈt̪a.β̞le]
• Rhymes: -able
• Syllabification: ha‧bi‧ta‧ble

Adjective

habitable m or f (masculine and feminine plural habitables)

1. habitable, inhabitable

   Antonym: inhabitable

Derived terms

• habitabilidad

Further reading

• “habitable”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10