writable

American  

[rahy-tuh-buhl] / ˈraɪ tə bəl /

Or writeable

adjective

1. capable of being written or set down in writing.

2. Computers. capable of recording data.

   writable DVDs.

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Other Word Forms

• unwritable
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of writable

First recorded in 1780–90; write ( def. ) + -able ( def. )

Example Sentences

When being burned in a writable CD-R drive, the angular speed of a CD varies to keep the linear speed constant where the disc is being written.

From Textbooks • Dec. 1, 2021

The architects specified some furniture with built-in scribble pads, and many of the walls are writable back-painted glass.

From New York Times • Aug. 4, 2016

I feel like a fiction becomes writable for me when a bunch of different ideas and images and kinds of language suddenly form a constellation.

From The New Yorker • May 27, 2016

But to say that you have been changed by the work on a book – by the process of getting the book to be writable – is not bad.

From The Guardian • Sep. 24, 2010

You observe, in the outset, Scott makes no attempt whatever to indicate accents or modes of pronunciation by changed spelling, unless the word becomes a quite definitely new, and securely writable one.

From On the Old Road, Vol. 2 (of 2) A Collection of Miscellaneous Essays and Articles on Art and Literature by Ruskin, John