fungible

[fuhn-juh-buhl]

adjective

1. Law, Commerce.,  (especially of goods) being of such nature or kind as to be freely exchangeable or replaceable, in whole or in part, for another of like nature or kind.

   Appliances are usually fungible—that is, they can be replaced with cash or a similar item of equal value.

2. capable of being exchanged or interchanged; interchangeable.

   Neither ethanol nor biodiesel is fully fungible with petroleum-based fuels.

   Large corporations are likely to view both customers and employees as fungible, replaceable commodities.

fungible

/ ˈfʌndʒɪbəl /

noun

1. (often plural) moveable perishable goods of a sort that may be estimated by number or weight, such as grain, wine, etc

adjective

1. having the nature or quality of fungibles

Other Word Forms

• fungibility noun
• nonfungible adjective
• unfungible adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of fungible¹

First recorded in 1640–50; from Medieval Latin fungibilis, equivalent to Latin fung(ī) “to perform, discharge, execute” + -ibilis -ible

Word History and Origins

Origin of fungible¹

C18: from Medieval Latin fungibilis , from Latin fungī to perform; see _function

Example Sentences

In the end, international law is subject to all sorts of interpretation, what a former senior minister describes as "fungible" - in other words, it's far from fixed.

From BBC

But, you know, his rants are pretty fungible.

From Salon

For the leaders of today’s cultural industries, films, TV series, albums, even books seem to be no more than widgets on an algorithmic assembly line, as fungible as yards of textile or gauges of steel.

From Los Angeles Times

They judge their god-emperor on style rather than substance, and understand truth as an endlessly fungible cryptocurrency compared to wicked memes and liberal tears.

From Salon

That’s because, for him, ideas are an entirely fungible currency that he deploys primarily to maintain the attention and adulation of his — and it is increasingly his alone — GOP “base.”

From Salon

Related Words

• compatible 
• synonymous