Explainable or explicable?
explainable is an adjective meaning “Able to be explained or understood”; explicable is an adjective meaning “Able to be explained”. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) explainable is about 2.0 times as common as explicable.
What is the difference between explainable and explicable?
| explainable | explicable | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | adjective | adjective |
| Meaning | Able to be explained or understood | Able to be explained |
| Example | none recorded | none recorded |
| Pronunciation | not recorded | /ɪkˈsplɪkəbəl/ |
| In writing | about once in every 5 million words | about once in every 10 million words |
Sources: explainable and explicable in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of explainable and explicable
explainable
- 1
Able to be explained or understood
explicable
- 1
Able to be explained
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, explainable or explicable?
explainable appears about once in every 5 million words; explicable about once in every 10 million words.
explainable about once in every 5 million wordsexplicable about once in every 10 million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).