affable

A1F4F4A1B3L1E1
UK, US/ˈæf.ə.bəl/

adjective

Receiving others kindly and conversing with them in a free and friendly manner; friendly, courteous, sociable.

UncommonScrabble 15

Meanings

adjectiveaffable (comparative more affable, superlative most affable)

comparative more affable · superlative most affable

  1. Receiving others kindly and conversing with them in a free and friendly manner; friendly, courteous, sociable.

    Furthermore, I may say, that the Sultan was always most affable to me in my interviews with him, even when I had to discuss some missionary questions. In fact, I never saw any traces of the difficulties which Mr. Terrell reported.

    1912, James Burrill Angell, “chapter ix Mission To The Ottoman Empire”, in The Reminiscences Of James Burrill Angell
    1 more example

    […] He stood bolt upright instead with his stumpy arms resting comfortably on the backsof the pilot's and co-pilot's seats, pipe in hand, making affable small talk to McWatt and whoever happened to be co-pilot and pointing out amusing trivia in the sky to the two men, who were too busy to be interested.

    1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “Chief White Halfoat”, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →OCLC, page 45

    Synonyms: accessible, civil, complaisant, courteous, friendly, gracious, personable

  2. Mild; benign.

    During more affable weather, the four friends congregate outside, sometimes leaning their hickory chairs against a "catapa" tree[…]

    1998, Alexia Maria Kosmider, Tricky Tribal Discourse, page 84

    Synonyms: benign, mild, warm

Synonyms & antonyms

adjectiveReceiving others kindly and conversing with them in a free and friendly manner; friendly, courteous, sociable.

adjectiveMild; benign.

More synonyms by meaning

adjectivediffusing warmth and friendliness

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Latinaffābilis
  2. Frenchaffable
  3. Englishaffable

Borrowed from French affable, from Latin affābilis, from affor (“to address”), from ad + for (“to speak, to talk”). See fable. By surface analysis, af- + fable.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Bulgarian приветлив, вежлив
  • приветлив (privetliv)friendly, courteous, sociable
  • вежлив (vežliv)friendly, courteous, sociable
  • любезен (ljubezen)friendly, courteous, sociable
  • внимателен (vnimatelen)friendly, courteous, sociable
Czech vlídný, přívětivý
  • vlídnýfriendly, courteous, sociable
  • přívětivýfriendly, courteous, sociable
  • vlídnýmild; benign
  • přívětivýmild; benign
Dutch gemoedelijk, welwillend
  • gemoedelijkfriendly, courteous, sociable
  • welwillendfriendly, courteous, sociable
Esperanto afabla
  • afablafriendly, courteous, sociable
Finnish mukava
  • mukavafriendly, courteous, sociable
French aimable, doux
  • aimablefriendly, courteous, sociable
  • douxmild; benign
German umgänglich, affabel
  • umgänglichfriendly, courteous, sociable
  • affabelfriendly, courteous, sociable
  • freundlichfriendly, courteous, sociable
  • nettfriendly, courteous, sociable
  • leutseligfriendly, courteous, sociable
  • umgänglichmild; benign
Italian affabile, bonario
  • affabilefriendly, courteous, sociable
  • bonariomild; benign
  • amabilemild; benign
Latin affābilis
  • affābilisfriendly, courteous, sociable
Māori wahawaha, hoahoa
  • wahawahafriendly, courteous, sociable
  • hoahoafriendly, courteous, sociable
  • takahoahoafriendly, courteous, sociable
  • whakahoahoafriendly, courteous, sociable
  • hūmāriefriendly, courteous, sociable
  • rataratafriendly, courteous, sociable
Norwegian velvillig, hyggelig
  • velvilligmild; benign
  • hyggeligmild; benign
Norwegian Bokmål hyggelig, vennlig
  • hyggeligfriendly, courteous, sociable
  • vennligfriendly, courteous, sociable
  • elskverdigfriendly, courteous, sociable
Polish sympatyczny, arcymiły
  • sympatycznyfriendly, courteous, sociable
  • arcymiłyfriendly, courteous, sociable
  • życzliwymild; benign
Portuguese afável
  • afávelfriendly, courteous, sociable
Romanian cordial, afabil
  • cordialfriendly, courteous, sociable
  • afabilfriendly, courteous, sociable
Russian приве́тливый, любе́зный
  • приве́тливый (privétlivyj)friendly, courteous, sociable
  • любе́зный (ljubéznyj)mild; benign
Scottish Gaelic suairce, tlàth
  • suaircefriendly, courteous, sociable
  • tlàthmild; benign
Spanish afable
  • afablefriendly, courteous, sociable
Swedish älskvärd, förbindlig
  • älskvärdfriendly, courteous, sociable
  • förbindligfriendly, courteous, sociable
  • vänligfriendly, courteous, sociable
Turkish arkadaş canlısı, içten
  • arkadaş canlısıfriendly, courteous, sociable
  • içtenmild; benign
Ukrainian привітний, люб'язний
  • привітний (pryvitnyj)friendly, courteous, sociable
  • люб'язний (ljubʺjaznyj)friendly, courteous, sociable
Cite this entry
APA

affable. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/affable

MLA

“affable.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/affable. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “affable,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/affable.

Source: affable on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.