Dictionary

affability en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˌæfəˈbɪlɪti/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

Etymology tree English affable Proto-Indo-European *-teh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-ts Proto-Indo-European *-teh₂ts Latin -itāsder. Old French -itebor. Middle English -ite English -ity English affability From affable + -ity.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) The state or quality of being affable, friendly, or approachable.
   • Bald, obliging, and on his way to training classes for his Irish setter, Mr. Telle is more the portrait of avuncular Norwegian affability than a would-be climate warrior. 2026 May 15, Mark Sappenfield, “Even Norway is facing an energy crunch. It is hunting for solutions.”, in The Christian Science Monitor, Boston, Massachusetts: Christian Science Publishing Society, →ISSN, →OCLC:
   • The Landlady […] was not without some Concern for the Confinement of poor Sophia, of whose great Sweetness of Temper and Affability the Maid of the House had made so favourable a Report, which was confirmed by all the Squire’s Servants […] 1749, Henry Fielding, chapter 3, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book XVI, page 191:
   • He [Toussaint L'Ouverture] knew how to listen to a subordinate officer with dignity and yet with affability. 1938, C. L. R. James, chapter 11, in The Black Jacobins, New York: Vintage, published 1989, page 251:
   • O conspiracy, Shamest thou to show thy dangerous brow by night, When evils are most free? O, then by day Where wilt thou find a cavern dark enough To mask thy monstrous visage? Seek none, conspiracy; Hide it in smiles and affability: 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:
   • […] he would sometimes pass me haughtily and coldly, just acknowledging my presence by a distant nod or a cool glance, and sometimes bow and smile with gentlemanlike affability. 1847 October 16, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], chapter XIV, in Jane Eyre. […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], →OCLC, page 251:

Forms

Antonyms

unaffability

Synonyms

bonhomie

Translations (15)

ja 優しさ (state or quality of being affable) · de Freundlichkeit (state or quality of being affable) · fr affabilité (state or quality of being affable) · pt afabilidade (state or quality of being affable) · eo afableco (state or quality of being affable) · gl afabilidade (state or quality of being affable) · ro afabilitate (state or quality of being affable) · la affabilitās (state or quality of being affable) · ca afabilitat (state or quality of being affable) · de Leutseligkeit (state or quality of being affable) · es afabilidad (state or quality of being affable) · de Umgänglichkeit (state or quality of being affable) · ro cordialitate (state or quality of being affable) · ms keramahan (state or quality of being affable) · fr liant (state or quality of being affable)