What does driveable mean?
Driveable is an adjective describing something that can be driven on or driven at all. Applied to roads, tracks, and routes, it means they are in a condition good enough for vehicles to travel them safely — after a storm, for instance, authorities may report which passes remain driveable. Applied to vehicles themselves, it indicates that a car is operable and roadworthy, often used when assessing whether a damaged or ageing vehicle can still legally and safely be put back on the road. The word carries a practical, everyday tone and appears frequently in traffic updates, travel advice, insurance reports, and second-hand car listings. It is formed from the verb drive with the suffix -able, following a productive English pattern seen in words like readable and walkable. Both driveable and the more common drivable are accepted spellings of the same word.
(Of a road or route) safe and suitable for driving on.
"The forester confirmed that the forest track was driveable as far as the river."
Often used after verbs like remain, become, or make in weather and travel reporting.
(Of a vehicle) still operable or fit to be driven, especially despite damage or age.
"The insurer wrote off the car because repairing it would cost more than replacing a driveable vehicle."
Whether you spell it driveable or drivable, dictionaries accept both — a rare case of English letting you take either road.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of driveable
Driveable combines the verb drive, from Old English drīfan meaning to push, propel, or urge forward, with the suffix -able, borrowed through Old French from Latin -abilis. The formation follows a productive English pattern for creating adjectives meaning 'capable of being acted upon'. The root of drive is ancient Germanic, shared by cognates such as drift and drove, all tracing back to a common Proto-Germanic verb of motion.
Related word forms
How driveable is actually used
Neutral register, common in motoring contexts, traffic reports, and insurance assessments. The spelling "drivable" is considerably more frequent overall, while "driveable" appears more often in British English.
Easily confused with driveable
"Drivable" is simply the more common spelling of the same word; "driveable" is an accepted British-leaning variant with identical meaning.