tractabilis

Tractabilis is a Latin adjective meaning capable of being drawn, handled, or managed. In its broad sense, it denotes tractability or ease of handling and has historically described objects, creatures, or ideas that could be manipulated or controlled without excessive difficulty.

Origin and form: Tractabilis is formed from the verb tractare (to draw, handle, or treat) plus the -abilis suffix used to make adjectives meaning “able to be.” The related English term is tractable, which preserves the same core sense but is more widely used in contemporary writing.

Modern usage: In English-language discourse, tractabilis appears mainly in Latin passages or as a scholarly stylistic choice. The standard term for the concept in modern usage is tractable. The Latin form may surface in studies of rhetoric, philology, or historical texts. In scientific or mathematical contexts, tractability describes the feasibility of solving a problem or performing a computation; a tractable problem admits an efficient algorithm or method, whereas an intractable one does not.

Taxonomy and nomenclature: Latin adjectives are used in biological naming to form species epithets; should a taxon have a name built from tractabilis, it would be grammatically valid, though it would be unusual. There is no widely recognized animal or plant taxon that currently bears this epithet.

See also: tractability; tractable.