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PlainSpell

disable

/dɪsˈeɪbəl/verb

disable is spelled D-I-S-A-B-L-E: 7 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 3.3 times per million words in written English, the 14,509th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, disable means “To render unable; to take away an ability of, as by crippling” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in disable?

Letters7: D-I-S-A-B-L-E
Syllables3 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing3.3 times per million words; the 14,509th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is disable?

Disable appears 3.3 times per million words in written English, the 14,509th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce disable?

  • /dɪsˈeɪbəl/
  • /dɪzˈeɪbəl/

Disable has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-uk-disable.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of disable

  • disables present, singular, he/she/it
  • disabling participle, present
  • disabled participle, past
  • more disable comparative
  • most disable superlative

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does disable mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

verb

  1. 1

    To render unable; to take away an ability of, as by crippling.

  2. 2

    To impair the physical or mental abilities of; to cause a serious, permanent injury.

    Falling off the horse disabled him.

  3. 3

    To deactivate, to make inoperational (especially of a function of an electronic or mechanical device).

    The pilot had to disable the autopilot of his airplane.

adjective

  1. 1

    obsoleteLacking ability; unable.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Disable in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Germanaußerstand setzen, außerstande setzen, außer Stand setzen, außer Stande setzen (to render unable; to take away the ability), behindern (to impair the physical or mental abilities of), deaktivieren (to deactivate a function of an electronic or…)
Portuguesedesabilitar (to render unable; to take away the ability), aleijar, incapacitar (to impair the physical or mental abilities of), desativar, desligar (to deactivate a function of an electronic or…)
Spanishinutilizar (to render unable; to take away the ability), incapacitar, discapacitar, mutilar (to impair the physical or mental abilities of), desactivar, deshabilitar (to deactivate a function of an electronic or…)
Frenchdésactiver, empêcher (to deactivate a function of an electronic or…)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does disable come from?

From dis- + able.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

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