comestible

Comestible is an adjective in English meaning edible or fit to be eaten. In modern usage it is relatively formal or literary, and it may appear as a noun in older or legal texts to refer to an edible item or provisions. The term is rarer than edible in everyday language, and when used as a noun it often appears in plural as comestibles.

Etymology traces comestible to Latin comestibilis, from comedere “to eat up,” with passage through Old French into English. The sense has remained closely tied to the idea of something that can be consumed as food.

Usage and scope vary by field. In botany and gastronomy, comestible is used to describe plant parts, foods, or substances that are edible, as opposed to inedible or toxic. In law or regulation, the word may appear in formal language to designate edible goods, though such usage is uncommon in contemporary consumer prose. In standard contemporary English, edible is far more common and broadly understood.

Examples of use include references to comestible mushrooms, comestible plants, or comestible goods in a catalogue or scholarly text. In everyday language, however, writers typically substitute edible or food when clarity and brevity are desired. The term also survives in certain translations and historical texts, where it conveys a precise, somewhat old-fashioned sense of foodstuffs intended for consumption.