verbalizable

Verbalizable is an adjective describing something that can be expressed in words. It applies to thoughts, propositions, data, or experiences that can be rendered into spoken or written language.

Etymology: from the verb verbalize, which itself derives from the Latin verbum, “word,” via Old French verbaliser. The suffix -able indicates the capacity or possibility of being verbalized.

In linguistic and philosophical contexts, verbalizability denotes that content can be captured in language, in contrast to nonverbalizable phenomena such as certain subjective experiences or sensory qualia. In psychology and cognitive science, researchers assess verbalizability to understand how well concepts can be communicated, learned, or translated into artificial systems.

Examples: A scientific hypothesis is verbalizable because it can be stated as a testable claim. The precise qualitative feel of pain, or the full richness of a personal mood, is often only partially verbalizable, being describable to some extent but not fully captured by words alone. In artificial intelligence and information retrieval, determining whether a concept is verbalizable can influence how it is represented, indexed, and retrieved using natural language processing.

See also: verbalization, expressible, articulable, ineffable, nonverbalizable.