What does customable mean?
Customable is a rare English adjective used chiefly in historical, legal, and commercial contexts to describe goods or matters that are subject to a custom. In its most concrete sense, it denotes merchandise that is liable to the payment of customs duties when imported or exported, so that only customable goods needed to be declared at a customhouse. In a broader, older usage, it described rights, tolls, or practices governed by long-standing custom rather than by explicit statute. The word derives from "custom," which traces back through Old French coustume to Latin consuetudinem, meaning habitual practice. Today customable survives almost exclusively in archival documents, legal reference works, and discussions of medieval trade regulation, where precision about what was dutiable or customary mattered greatly to merchants and revenue authorities alike.
adjectiveLiable or subject to the payment of customs duty; more broadly, subject to a custom or established usage.
- Subject to the payment of customs duties (of merchandise).
- Subject to or governed by an established custom or usage.
"The merchant argued that the wool was customable and therefore had to be declared at the port."
"Only customable goods need be entered at the customhouse before unloading."
"In medieval boroughs, certain market tolls were held to be customable by long-established usage."
"Customable" once mattered enough to appear in legal statutes — it marked the goods the Crown could tax at the port, making it one of history's most consequential adjectives for merchants.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of customable
Customable is formed from "custom" plus the suffix -able, following the pattern of words like "taxable" and "actionable." Custom itself entered Middle English from Old French coustume, derived from Latin consuetudinem, the accusative of consuetudo, meaning habit or usage, from consuescere, to accustom oneself. The adjective arose in the context of English trade law, where it identified goods subject to customs duties or practices governed by established usage. Its closest relatives are the other derivatives of custom, including customer, customary, and accustom.
How customable is actually used
A rare, chiefly historical and legal term found mainly in older statutes, customs records, and legal dictionaries rather than everyday modern English.
Easily confused with customable
Customary means done according to usual practice or habit, whereas customable means subject to a custom or to the payment of customs duty.