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Adjectival form of the verb despise?

English Language & Usage Asked by hjjg200 on May 23, 2021

Saw the title of the movie where minions come out – "Despicable Me" – I was curious, as despicable has the suffix -able, what would be its verb form? Then, I thought, is it de-spice? Which made me read it de-spice-able.

However, after looking up the dictionary, I found that its verb form is despise and it is pronounced de-spik-able. Isn’t it okay to use "despisable?" How did this happen? Are there more adjectives like this?

2 Answers

According to Dictionary.com, both "despicable" and "despisable" are acceptable, however "despicable" tends to mean deserving to be despised.

Answered by Dog Lover on May 23, 2021

I have never heard ‘despisable’ used in educated British English. Although I do not accept web or word-processor spelling dictionaries as authorities, they do reflect a view of contemporary usage, and the web browser I am using as I write this (Safari, Mac, UK) underlines it as a misspelling. However, consulting two British printed dictionaries I find both words listed.

Chambers (1993 edition)

despicable adj deserving to be despised…

despise to look down upon with contempt, scorn, hate — adj despisable

Oxford English Dictionary (1928)

despicable…1. to be looked down upon or despised, vile, base, contemptible

despisable…1. to be despised or treated with contempt; contemptible, despicable. Now rare.

The first quoted use of despisable is 1340, whereas that of despicable is 1553.

Conclusions

  1. The two words have identical meanings.
  2. ‘despisable’ is the original word that was displaced by ‘despicable’ to the extent that it is now uncommon in educated British use.

Recommendation

Use ‘despicable’. It is perfectly correct and will be much more familiar to your readers as it is much more widely used than ‘despisable’.

Answered by David on May 23, 2021

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