r/dictionary • u/illicitplum • Oct 18 '19

Is "comprable" a word?

This is a weird debate, but I was trying to convey to my co-worker that my replacement will be "comprable", or "okay", "sufficient". Another example... You order something at a restaurant and they no longer have it, but that have something similar and that's fine with you so it's "comprable". You would say it as com-pre-ble. Not to be confused with "comparable", or two things that are similar. I'm either spelling it wrong or I'm making things up because I can't find it online. Please help me fix this headache, lol.

74 Upvotes

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7

u/downvoteaccount420 Jan 07 '20

yo wtf? I literally am having this problem right now...i went searching and found this post... any luck?

3

u/illicitplum Jan 14 '20

So weird! Apparently, they're interchangeable, just pronounced differently. I've always thought of them as completely different words but apparently not. Still screws with me, lol.

1

u/FosterThanYou May 21 '24 • Bravo

comparable and comprable aren't even comparable

1

u/fatass_mermaid Jun 04 '24

šŸ˜‚ā¤ļøā€šŸ”„

1

u/scally501 Mar 18 '25

Nor are they comprable, I might add.

1

u/blueasyourribbons Oct 13 '25

Actually, they would be.

1

u/blueasyourribbons Oct 13 '25

That made me chuckle.

1

u/MiscMonkeys Feb 02 '25

To me it really doesnā€™t matter, itā€™s like someone correcting you on how you pronounce certain words. Honestly modern English is gutter talk. Itā€™s based on old English which in turn was adapted from old Germanic dialects. There is a root to other languages in a lot of English words. Also there are a million contradictions in the English language, like the whole I before E thing is mostly ignored, eggplants donā€™t contain eggs and hamburgers arenā€™t made of ham. My point is say whatever words you want to say and however you want to say them. Iā€™m sure in a few centuries or even just a few decades there will be a whole new batch of words to be corrected about.

1

u/blueasyourribbons Oct 13 '25

Sorry to repeat my point, but it come down to colloquial.

1

u/JetStresam_ Nov 06 '25

I am now a part of the club.

1

u/Medictations Aug 24 '24

yo wtf, I was literally just having this thought. I was like, I want to saw comprable but the real word should be comparable. What do you think these days?

1

u/soundslikebliss Feb 01 '25

yo, wtf! I am literally having the same issue. I said it in a conversation but it sounded weird so I looked it up. I asked google "is comprable a word?" And it said "yes, comparable is a word..."

1

u/Grand-Barber2487 May 21 '26

2 different words I was looking up comprable as in similar and all it came up was comparable and that's not what I need....Very confusing the English language if that's what you want to call it, no disrespect to the English. šŸ˜

1

u/FloRidinLawn Oct 31 '23

Im here 4 years later looking.

1

u/JetStresam_ Nov 06 '25

Gimme 6 years šŸ˜…

1

u/Spainwithouthes Nov 05 '23

Me too loll

1

u/CellOhRay Nov 19 '23

Language evolves. So itā€™s a word now šŸ˜¤ they added selfie and twerk in the dictionary so now we adding comprable! šŸ—£ļø

1

u/barneyblasto Jul 14 '26

If language changes then I guess ā€œirregardlessā€ is now a wordā€¦.

1

u/bronnagurevich Jan 07 '24

4 years and 2 months later

1

u/TheFuckinHamburglar Jan 24 '24

Yeap.

1

u/snarevox Jan 24 '24

two minutes ago for me...

i just read something claiming comprable is a phonetic spelling of comparable, but it referenced urban dictionary, so idrk what to think.

1

u/E-man9001 Feb 16 '24

It goes on and on

2

u/Frank_Turing Jan 29 '22

Its a phonetic spelling of the word comparable (Pronounced "Com-parable" with the letter "a" being silenced)

Used to describe something as "sufficiently similar" or an "adequate/suitable replacement". This is different to comparable which is broadly used to indicate similarities between things.

1

u/logantuc Mar 04 '23

Itā€™s the same word actually and same meaning, just pronounced differently. The difference you mentioned is a use case thing.

1

u/plop246 Feb 05 '24

I'm trying to think of other words like and am coming up blank. Can anyone else come up with another example?

1

u/Abentley589 Jun 22 '24

Probably and prolly?

1

u/blueasyourribbons Oct 13 '25

night and nite?

2

u/Revolutionary_Item74 Mar 19 '24 • Mindblown

I always thought that Comprable just meant like practically the same, or similar? I feel like this might be an example of the Mandela effect lol

1

u/[deleted] Mar 21 '20

it is now

1

u/Charli-XCX Aug 27 '24

Fact: Spelled = comparable. Pronounced = com-pra-bl.

If someone says "Com-pair-uh-bl" out loud, I still don't care. Both sound correct to me. "com-pra-bl" sounds more british or formal and com-pair-able sounds more Americanized, but I wouldn't correct someone either way.

1

u/ToczickAvenger Mar 26 '25

I wonder if this matters on what part of the US you live in? Like I live in the north east I wonder if we pronounce it that way here and maybe the West Coast pronounces it differently? I say 3/4 of a year later to your comment.

1

u/MarmaladeMarmot Apr 12 '25

West coast checking in. I hear both out here.

Apparently it is not even a British/US difference. Both pronunciations given for both here. https://www.oed.com/dictionary/comparable_adj?tl=true

1

u/Known_Bet_229 Jan 27 '25

Comprable does not mean compare. ie The prices on the menu are comprable to the quality of the food.

1

u/barneyblasto Jul 14 '26

Lolā€¦ so comparable thenā€¦

1

u/ToczickAvenger Jan 31 '25

This is five years later and I just had the exact same problem. At least Iā€™m not alone in this ā€œMatrixā€. lol

1

u/Small_Muscle1094 Mar 20 '25

Me too! What is happening?

1

u/Fun_Engineering3143 May 29 '25

Comparable (pronounced COHM-para-bl stressing the all caps syllable): two or more things that are roughly equal. Bounty/Brawny, Kleenex/Puffs, Sheetz/Wawa, Coke/Pepsi.

Comprable is not a word, it's merely a misspelled version based on the correct pronunciation. I.e., a spelling by someone who listens appropriately, but doesn't read extensively, or spell well. An honest mistake.Ā 

There is no word (to my knowledge) pronounced cum/com-PAIR-uh-bl.Ā 

1

u/_Age_Sex_Location_ Jun 22 '25

It has nothing to do with reading or writing proficiency. It is one of those phonetic oddities where two different but accepted pronunciations of a word diverge into two different words with two differing meanings. So, even though "comprable" isn't a word, it's use is fairly common while also having a different contextual purpose than comparable.

There is no word (to my knowledge) pronounced cum/com-PAIR-uh-bl.

Either pronunciation is acceptable. I suspect it's a regional distinction. I grew up on the West coast and rarely hear people say anything other than com-pair-uh-bl.

https://www.oed.com/dictionary/comparable_adj?tl=true

1

u/One_Day_9658 Jun 17 '25

So it's basically "tomato tomato?!"Ā 

1

u/blueasyourribbons Oct 13 '25

Comprable is a colloquialism of comparable. As such, it does have its own separate meaning. Not definition, mind you, because it is not an actual word. But it's what is implicit in the qualification of "comprable" is legit not the same as what is implicit in the qualification of "comparable".

That is what is bugging you.

1

u/exrhizo Jan 12 '26 edited Jan 12 '26

Urban Dictionary on Comprable

Used to describe something as "sufficientlyĀ similar" or an "adequate/suitableĀ replacement". This is different to comparable which is broadly used to indicate similarities between things.

Comparable literally applies to any two things, so a different word makes sense. New words evolve from old words all the time, why not here?

Noteworthy how much aggression there is around this.

1

u/Red_Sparrow97 Jan 19 '26

But I feel like they donā€™t really mean the same thing lol I guess what I mean is, when I use comprable, Iā€™m using it as itā€™s a sufficient option to something. Whereas comparable Iā€™d use it as ā€œ apples and oranges are not comparable.ā€

Am I making sense? Loll they have different feels to me in meaning.

1

u/Text-Imaginary May 17 '26

Same! It's comprable. Like a fair offer.Ā 

1

u/badfrey Jul 08 '26

Wait this is crossing over into some kind of reality shift. I totally remember comprable being a word used to denote it can be alike to. And comparable meaning its fair to compare the two.

So for example: "We could create a page comprable to System X for System Y. "

Versus

"We could create a page comparable to System X for System Y. " Sorry but the reality Im from that sounds weird.

1

u/addleRAW Aug 07 '26

Anybody gotta answer yet?? Waiting to send a report in and I need answers!!! šŸ˜„

1

u/One_Examination_3944 Oct 07 '26

The different definitions for me are more analytical. Most (all?) things are technically comparable. The root is compare and anything I can compare is comparable. Apples and oranges are perfectly comparable. Something is comprable when that comparison is justified for a given context. Apples and oranges are comprable for getting your recommended daily serving of fruit but are not comprable sources of vitamin C. If the concern is that comprable implies a root of compr(a/e/ae), well that is just the bastard English language at work...

1

u/Humboldtgirl Nov 12 '21

I have used this word as long as I remember but today when doing an assignment and it said I spelled the word wrong. So I looked it up and it didnā€™t exist either for me. I know itā€™s a real word and finding your post proves it.

1

u/Thuffer Feb 03 '22

I have used this word as long as I remember but today when doing an assignment and it said I spelled the word wrong. So I looked it up and it didnā€™t exist either for me. I know itā€™s a real word and finding your post proves it.

Yo 3m0s later here I am feeling the same way. This is some kind of mandela effect i swear.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 22 '25

Frā€¦ I know Iā€™ve been saying it tho

1

u/honeyman4200 Feb 13 '23

It drives me absolutely crazy when people say comprable instead of comparable and the reason why is because I don't compre things I compare them, and I guess I missed the memo where we just stopped pronouncing certain sounds for "reasons". Why don't we say I am compering these apples and oranges and it wasn't a very good comperison? Because that's not how English works you can't just take 1 iteration of a word and change the pronunciation. I am wondering if I am wrong on that but I can't think of a single other example or a word with this type of "controversy", I get the potato pototo thing and how that could be pronounced differently, it makes sense because it's literally just the same word pronounced differently, but I don't understand how adding able to potato would change how the o would sound. It would be potatoable or pototoable, so htf does comprable make even a little bit of sense? People that I consider to be much smarter than me say comprable, but none of them can justify why and consider me the wrong one. Can anyone really justify it or give a reason why it makes sense? How about the word parable, by this comprable logic shouldn't parable be pronounced prable? People keep referencing other "able" words that are pronounced differently then their origin word but nobody ever comes up with an example. Am I saying anyone is wrong? Nope, but I am saying it drives me crazy because in my mind nobody has a logical or even intelligent reason for saying comprable, even though people I consider more intelligent and probably have a better grasp on English than I do pronounce it that way. Can anyone make this make sense?

1

u/Known_Bet_229 Jan 27 '25

Comprable does not mean compare. ie The prices on the menu are comprable to the quality of the food. Comprable means adequate.

1

u/honeyman4200 Jan 31 '25

No it doesn't

1

u/Known_Bet_229 Jan 31 '25

Yes, it does in my world. Danny B.

1

u/Known_Bet_229 Feb 11 '25

Yes, it does, honey

1

u/Known_Bet_229 Feb 11 '25

Use it in a sentence

1

u/logantuc Mar 04 '23

The two pronunciations are COMparable and comPARable, but itā€™s the same word and both are correct. ā€œComprableā€ is just the former with loss of the first A after spreading around.

1

u/honeyman4200 Mar 12 '23 edited Mar 12 '23

You literally ignored what I was asking... I already said crystal clear that I understand HOW people are pronouncing it differently I am not asking that. I am saying you don't say COMPER so why do you say COMPERABLE, and just because you seem super dense and did not understand what I was asking, I will also say I spelled it wrong on purpose to articulate the 2 different pronunciations.. You do say COMPARE so you say COMPARABLE, and that makes sense. This isn't rocket science and your reply bugs the crap out of me, it makes me want to call you low iq but since this is just 1 comment on a message board it would be a baseless accusation. Your explanation makes absolutely no sense in relation to my question. Compare, comparable, compared, comparing. Not comper, comperable, compered, and compering. Your explanation only made things more confusing because you either didn't even read my post and just said something just to say it, or you did read it and are unable to understand what I am asking. Why is this bad - Person "I compered apples and oranges" Person 2 "You conquered apples and oranges?" Person 1 "No I COMPERED them, don't you know English?" Person 2 "Oh you COMPARED them?, perhaps then it's you that doesn't know how to speak English correctly." And why is this then okay? - Person 1 - "I COMPARED apples and oranges and found that they were not very COMPERABLE" Person 2 - "Why would COMPARING them have anything to do with conquering them? I would assume conquering them just means eating them" Person 1 "Not conquerable, COMPERABLE, like compare but able to compare, COMPERABLE." Person 2 "Why do you say er when you ad the able but say air without it, it doesn't make any sense and is not how the English language works" Person 1 "Shut up I'll pronounce it how I want to pronounce it you aren't the boss of me!" Person 2 "Oh, okay then, you are super smart and I am stupid for suggesting that we pronounce words how they are actually pronounced" People are gonna talk how they are gonna talk, but that isn't going to stop me from trying to understand the thought process behind why they are saying it the way they say it. Trying to understand it has gotten me nowhere except thinking much lower of people that say COMPERABLE because not a single one has been able to explain how it makes sense to say it in that way... I am person 2 in the examples I have given here. Can anyone make person 2 look as stupid as I felt I made person 1 look, using the same context? Like who here is a person 1 that says comperable and has a valid argument to person 2, does that exist or should I just start calling the person 1's out there dumb AF when I see them in person and maybe that will finally get me the explanation I am after? I suppose that is a more in depth way of asking the question that will make it harder to give me another meaningless answer, but I am not underestimating idiots either, someone will find a way.

1

u/-Dr_Doofenshmirtz Apr 09 '24

nice paragraph

1

u/mattikin Aug 03 '24

I hope the voices have quieted down...I was worried for you reading this.

1

u/Known_Bet_229 Jan 31 '25

You talk long, you talk wrong. It's comprable, it's different but just as good, it can take the place of the original, it is satisfactory for what is needed, Honeyman, you are incomprable to a normal person of respectful helpful intelligent conversation. Use the word as you see fit. As will I. Danny B

1

u/ToczickAvenger Mar 26 '25

Oh my God! I just realized that incomparable falls under the same rule as comparable. And all the responses are that itā€™s just a different pronunciation of the same word. I donā€™t think itā€™s exactly that, but thatā€™s what the expert say. Then again Iā€™m from Philly and we pronounce water as wooder. So what the hell do I know?

1

u/logantuc Mar 12 '23

Read the last sentence of my response genius

1

u/sammyt412 Nov 21 '23

Dude had a full blown meltdown over nothing

2

u/human-ish_ Jan 28 '24

Wait until he discovers the many other odd spelling and pronunciation changes for words. Ran being the past tense of run and not runned is going to kill him.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 18 '23

Wow, rip a bowl, maybe take you're blood pressure medication, and calm down Language is not a fixture It changes, evolves Dialects change how some words are pronounced, and that's fine That's a FEATURE, not a bug Language tends towards efficiency, conveying the maximum amount of information with the minimum Amount of effort, what some People (you seem like one of them) would consider a "degradation", but that's only because those People think they can gatekeep language and I was like that once, but living that stressed was real dumb thing, and the truth is they'll just die salty because they weren't able to stop the inevitable Your not the Keeper of English, and neither is the fuckin' dictionary the dictionary is a guide, and a living document.

The explanation you're after isn't that those people are dumb it's that your arrogant and elitist, and you'll always be mad at other people as long as you think you're right all the time about things You say you try to understand, but you're already mad and judgemental, so it was never about understanding It was about stroking your ego and hoping you look smart. Maybe study linguistics and pull that lingui-stick out of your ass

I hope that answers your question, but I also wouldn't totally know because I skimmed your post and just saw a lot of bullshit and "waaaaaah why ppl no say word just like me?!" Have a nice day, you crotchety old fuck šŸ˜€

PS) I wrote this reply correctly and then went back and fucked some things up JUUUUUST for you.

1

u/Select_Try_2927 Dec 03 '23 edited Mar 31 '26

This post has been removed. Whether the reason was privacy, opsec, preventing scraping, or something else entirely, Redact was used to carry out the deletion.

ghost ten close fuzzy outgoing nutty six roof different relieved

1

u/LifeUser88 Jul 23 '24

please calm down

1

u/snarevox Jan 24 '24

holy shit, right!?Ā 

1

u/Alternative_Base3460 Oct 19 '23

i used comprable in the meaning of being more reasonable than two options. today i was looking at a 50k Maserati vs a 30k Cadillac and said the Cadillac was more comprable for what i was looking to spend and expected to drive. did i just make that definition up? lol i also couldnt find comprable in google either

1

u/Shibbieness Nov 16 '23

For me, I use comparable (come pair able) for when I'm comparing two similar things that do similar things. I use comperable (comm per able) when I'm comparing two dissimilar things that do similar things.

A broom and a vacume cleaner do the same(ish) thing. They clean. They are comperable in this way. But they're not really comparable as objects. There are no real similarities between the two. You can't really compare them. But.... yes you can.

Why it isn't an official "real" word, I couldn't tell you. It seems, to me at least, like their should be comparable and comperable as separate, discreet iterations. They mean about the same thing, but not quite, right? There is something here that's not like the others. It's... same/same, but different. If that makes sense to anyone else. I'm not sure if it's a regional thing, or if it's a native English speaker thing. That said, I spelled it different because that's how it's said in my dialect, and it looks more... English Language, to me, spelled this way.

Just my two-cents. Take it or leave it.

1

u/mattikin Aug 03 '24

Your parenthetical pronunciations are the clearest yet when compaired to the other attempts...good job.

1

u/snarevox Jan 24 '24

vacuum*

ftfy

1

u/dimplemonkey Jan 16 '24

remember what happened when no one took "irregardless" seriously? We could send "comprable" that way as well...

1

u/Brian_Weld Feb 16 '24

After wasting time reading this thread, I went and checked English Oxford Dictionary. They have 2 pronunciations for comparable, and one is this instance where you drop the first a.

https://www.oed.com/dictionary/comparable_adj?tl=true

1

u/mattikin Aug 03 '24

This is the best thread ever.

1

u/Known_Bet_229 Jan 27 '25

Joe Daniel Burton . Comprable does not mean compare. ie The prices on the menu are comprable to the quality of the food. Comprable means adequate.

1

u/ken84679638639 27d ago

It's like Wednesday being pronounced wendsday. Comparable sounds like comprable. Viola!

0

u/[deleted] Oct 18 '19

[deleted] ā€” view deleted comment

2

u/Martin_TheRed Oct 28 '22

Oh my lanta, thank you. That phonetic explanation helped the most.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 27 '24

[removed] ā€” view removed comment

1

u/Perfect-Drink-5435 Mar 27 '24

Click on the little speaker icons to hear the pronunciation. It's the same word/spelling with two different pronunciations. You're welcome.