What does drinkably mean?
'Drinkably' is an adverb formed from the adjective 'drinkable', meaning in a way that is fit for drinking or to a degree that makes a liquid pleasant to consume. It does double duty: it can describe whether something is safe enough to drink, as when contaminated water has been treated until it is drinkably pure, or it can evaluate flavour and texture, as when a critic calls a young red wine drinkably smooth despite its tannins. The word belongs chiefly to evaluative registers — wine and coffee writing, food journalism, travel accounts of questionable tap water — rather than everyday conversation, where speakers more naturally reach for the adjective 'drinkable'. Its negative counterpart, 'undrinkably', is arguably encountered even less often. Though rare, the word is transparent and instantly understood: anyone who knows 'drink' and the adverbial suffix '-ly' can parse it on sight, making it a tidy example of how English productively converts adjectives into adverbs without ceremony.
adverbIn a manner that is fit or safe for drinking; to a degree that makes a liquid pleasant or acceptable to drink.
- In a manner that is safe or fit to be consumed as a liquid.
- To a degree that makes a beverage pleasant or acceptable in taste.
"The stream water was filtered until it ran cold and drinkably clear."
"After boiling, the murky pond water became drinkably clean."
"The young vintage had mellowed into something drinkably smooth."
It's the rare adverb you'll mostly meet in wine reviews and water reports — proof that English will happily turn any adjective into an adverb, even one about tap water.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of drinkably
'Drinkably' is formed within English by adding the adverbial suffix '-ly' to 'drinkable', an adjective built from the verb 'drink' plus the suffix '-able'. The verb 'drink' descends from Old English 'drincan', of Germanic origin, and is related to words in other Germanic languages such as Dutch 'drinken' and German 'trinken'. The same ancient root underlies related English words including 'drench' and 'drown', which originally carried senses of giving or taking in drink. The adverb itself is a modern, transparent formation with no independent history of its own.
Related word forms
How drinkably is actually used
A low-frequency adverb, 'drinkably' appears most often in evaluative contexts such as wine tasting, coffee commentary, and discussions of water quality. It carries a mildly positive connotation when describing taste ('drinkably sweet') and a neutral-to-reassuring one when describing safety.
Easily confused with drinkably
'Drinkable' is the adjective describing a liquid that is safe or pleasant to drink, while 'drinkably' is the adverb describing the manner or degree to which something can be drunk.