What does drinkable mean?
Drinkable is an adjective describing a liquid that is safe and suitable for drinking, most often applied to water. A second, closely related sense concerns quality rather than safety: a beverage may be called drinkable when its taste is acceptable, if not excellent. In this use the word frequently appears with graders such as 'barely', 'quite', or 'perfectly', as in 'the coffee was barely drinkable'. The term carries a neutral, practical tone and appears in contexts ranging from public health ('access to clean, drinkable water') to casual criticism of food and wine. Its negative counterpart, undrinkable, is equally common. Formed from the verb drink with the suffix -able, the word belongs to a large English family of adjectives describing fitness for a purpose, and its noun derivative drinkability is especially familiar from marketing language about beer and wine. As a less common noun, 'a drinkable' refers to any beverage.
(Of water or another liquid) safe and suitable for drinking.
"Aid agencies rushed supplies of food and drinkable water to the flooded region."
(Of a beverage) of acceptable taste or quality; not unpleasant to drink.
"The house red won't impress anyone, but it's perfectly drinkable."
Often used with understatement; 'drinkable' alone can signal mediocrity rather than praise.
A beverage; something that can be drunk (usually in the plural).
"The fridge was stocked with a few cold drinkables for the party."
Almost always used in the plural form 'drinkables', often somewhat humorously.
As a noun, 'drinkable' occurs almost exclusively in the plural, typically in informal or humorous contexts referring to an assortment of beverages.
"Guests are asked to bring their own drinkables to the picnic."
The word 'drink' and 'drench' are siblings — both descend from the same ancient Germanic root, so to drench something is, etymologically speaking, to make it very drinkable.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of drinkable
Drinkable was formed in Middle English by combining the verb drink — from Old English drincan, of Germanic origin — with the suffix -able, borrowed from Old French and ultimately Latin. It shares its deep root with the related verbs drench and drown, which descend from the same prehistoric Germanic base meaning to drink or absorb liquid. Cognates appear across the Germanic languages, including Dutch drinken and German trinken. The adjective has been in continuous use since the medieval period.
Related word forms
How drinkable is actually used
Neutral register, common in everyday speech. When used without qualification, the word often implies merely adequate quality — calling wine 'drinkable' can be faintly damning praise.