# personable

> English word · Adjective · IPA /ˈpɜːsn̩əbl/ · frequency rank #42,332

## Definitions
1. Of a person: having a pleasing appearance; attractive; handsome.
2. Of a person: having a pleasant manner; amiable, friendly.
3. Synonym of personal (“done in person, without an intermediary”).
4. Being a legal person and thus able to maintain a plea in court, or to hold some property or right.

## Etymology
From Late Middle English personable, personabil (“having a pleasing appearance, handsome”), and then from both of the following:
* For sense 1 (“having a pleasing appearance”) and sense 2 (“having a pleasant manner”) (these senses are not found in Old French or Medieval Latin), probably from person, personne, persoun (“individual, person”) + -āble (suffix meaning ‘able or worthy to be’ forming adjectives).
* For sense 3.1 (“synonym of personal”) and sense 3.2 (“being a legal person”), from Middle French personable and Old French personable, and from their etymon Medieval Latin personābilis (“personal”), possibly from Medieval Latin persōna (“person”) + Latin -ābilis (suffix meaning ‘able or worthy to be’).
By surface analysis, person + -able (suffix meaning ‘relevant or suitable to’).

## Easily confused with
- **personal** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/personable-vs-personal)
- **personals** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/personable-vs-personals)
- **personally** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/personable-vs-personally)

## Common misspellings (16)
`eprsonable`, `perosnable`, `perrsonable`, `persnoable`, `persoanble`, `personabble`, `personabel`, `personablle`, `personalbe`, `personbale`, `personible`, `personnable`, `perssonable`, `pesronable`, `ppersonable`, `presonable`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/personable