What does vocable mean?
Vocable is an uncommon but precise word with two related uses. As an adjective, it describes something capable of being voiced, spoken, or sung: a vocable sound is one that can be produced as speech or song. As a noun, a vocable is an uttered word, syllable, or vocal sound, especially a syllable set to one musical note. The distinction from vocal is subtle: vocal more commonly means relating to the voice, loudly sung, or outspoken, whereas vocable focuses on the capacity of a sound to be articulated. In descriptive writing about language, music, or phonetics, vocable can be useful because it separates the possibility of vocalization from vocal activity itself. The word is formal and literary rather than everyday, so ordinary words such as spoken, audible, syllable, and vocal sound will usually sound more natural. Its rarity makes it especially effective when precision matters.
Capable of being voiced, spoken, or sung.
"The whisper was soft but remained vocable."
A formal and relatively uncommon adjective, used chiefly in descriptive or technical contexts.
An uttered word, syllable, or vocal sound, especially one sung to a musical note.
"The composer assigned the long phrase to a single vocable."
The musical sense is the best established; the more general sense is literary and uncommon.
The regular plural of the noun, though the word itself is uncommon.
"The chant consisted of four repeated vocables."
Vocable is a precise little word for the raw material of speech: a sound fit to be voiced.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does vocable come from?
English borrowed vocable through French from Latin vocalis, meaning “of the voice” or “sounding,” which was formed from vox, the Latin word for “voice.” The English word dates from the early seventeenth century and developed both the modern sense “capable of being voiced” and the musical sense of a syllable or vocal sound assigned to a note. Its relatives include vocal, vocalic, and vocalize.
How vocable is actually used
Vocable is formal, literary, and relatively uncommon. It is encountered in discussions of language, phonetics, rhetoric, and especially music; in everyday speech, spoken, audible, syllable, or vocal sound will usually be more natural.
Easily confused with vocable
Vocal usually means relating to the voice, sung loudly, or outspoken, whereas vocable specifically means capable of being voiced, spoken, or sung.
A vocation is a calling or profession, while a vocable concerns a word, sound, or syllable associated with the voice.