mutable (adj.)

late 14c., "liable to change," from Latin mutabilis "changeable," from mutare "to change," from PIE root *mei- (1) "to change, go, move," with derivatives referring to the exchange of goods and services as regulated by custom or law (compare Latin mutuus "done in exchange").

Entries linking to mutable

*mei- (1)

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to change, go, move," "with derivatives referring to the exchange of goods and services within a society as regulated by custom or law" [Watkins].

It forms all or part of: amiss; amoeba; azimuth; common; commune; communicate; communication; communism; commute; congee; demean; emigrate; emigration; excommunicate; excommunication; immune; immutable; incommunicado; mad; mean (adj.1) "low-quality;" mew (n.2) "cage;" mews; migrate; migration; mis- (1) "bad, wrong;" mistake; Mithras; molt; Mstislav; municipal; munificent; mutable; mutant; mutate; mutation; mutatis mutandis; mutual; permeable; permeate; permutation; permute; remunerate; remuneration; transmutation; transmute; zenith.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit methati "changes, alternates, joins, meets;" Avestan mitho "perverted, false;" Hittite mutai- "be changed into;" Latin mutare "to change," meare "to go, pass," migrare "to move from one place to another," mutuus "done in exchange;" Old Church Slavonic mite "alternately;" Czech mijim "to go by, pass by," Polish mijać "avoid;" Gothic maidjan "to change."

mutability (n.)

late 14c., "tendency to change, inconstancy," from Old French mutabilité, from Latin mutabilitas, from mutabilis "changeable" (see mutable).

It is the same!—For, be it joy or sorrow,

The path of its departure still is free;

Man's yesterday may ne'er be like his morrow;

Nought may endure but Mutability.

[Shelley, from "Mutability," 1816]

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updated on May 10, 2017

Definitions of mutable from WordNet

mutable (adj.)

prone to frequent change; inconstant;

the mutable ways of fortune

the fickle and mutable nature of truth

mutable (adj.)

capable of or tending to change in form or quality or nature;

a mutable substance

mutable weather patterns

a mutable foreign policy

Synonyms: changeable

mutable (adj.)

tending to undergo genetic mutuation;

It is likely, too, that the chromosomes of all eubacteria are as mutable as that of E. coli

From wordnet.princeton.edu, not affiliated with etymonline.

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mutatis mutandis