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This has been bugging me as an API I am programming with has isCreateable(), isUpdateable(), and isDeletable()...

My understanding is that the create and update can go Creatable or Createable, Updatable or Updateable, but I couldn't find any reference for Deletable to ever by Deleteable....

Is Deletable every actually Deleteable? And if not, does anyone know what happens with that word that prevents that extra 'e' while similar words like createable and updateable existed with the extra 'e'?

To me, the extra 'e' should always be included as it helps insure long vowel sounds in the words, and deleteable shouldn't be an excuse... or is it just... English?

Tyler Dahle
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    Welcome to English! There are no cut-and-dry rules that cover everything, unfortunately. – marcellothearcane Jul 17 '17 at 20:05
  • Would it be inherently incorrect to use 'deleteable' instead of 'deletable'? – Tyler Dahle Jul 17 '17 at 20:07
  • Hmm. People would know what you meant, but you also mention that the '-able' ending is okay for all three. Why not just use that? – marcellothearcane Jul 17 '17 at 20:19
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    I think -eable is better when it can be used. I'm just triggered that they used -eable on two of them then randomly used -able on deletable haha. I was curious if 'deleteable' was even a thing, which would cause them to use deletable instead, or if they just suck at naming consistently. – Tyler Dahle Jul 17 '17 at 20:21
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    Google (if that's anything to go by) suggests 'creatable' instead of 'createable' - Likewise for 'updateable'. Why do you think it's better? (PS consistency is more important with APIs) – marcellothearcane Jul 17 '17 at 20:24
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    With updatable, I want to say updat - able. With updateable, I think update - able. It makes it more obvious what the correct vowel sound is to me. – Tyler Dahle Jul 17 '17 at 20:59
  • if you're British, there's a 'data' in there which might help! – marcellothearcane Jul 17 '17 at 21:16
  • OED has hateable, rateable, skateable — but little more along those lines. – tchrist Jul 17 '17 at 23:02
  • As an American (i.e. not a member of the British Commonwealth), and I guess also with my own life experiences and such, I agree completely, that it should always be ____eable in such cases. To add to your reasoning, I would point out that "updatable" can be read as "upda" + "table", which is just absolutely horrific (as is "up" + "data" + "ble" ("ble"? What the heck is that?!). I think that is why perhaps "deletable" seems less horrible to us than the other examples, even though it would be inconsistent, because at least it would still be pronounced (mostly) properly without the "e". – Andrew Jul 04 '23 at 06:06
  • I tend to always favor maximal clarity - and adding increased explicity, when it serves to increase said clarity - in cases like this, where there's potential for confusion about meaning (something we programmers consider often for things like variable names and comments, in our code). – Andrew Jul 04 '23 at 06:08
  • Related: https://english.stackexchange.com/q/56431/122832 https://english.stackexchange.com/q/55193/122832 https://english.stackexchange.com/q/10440/122832 – Andrew Jul 04 '23 at 06:13

1 Answers1

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Collins includes:

deletable adjective able to be deleted

And it allows the following derived forms of create and update:

creatable (creˈatable) adjective

updateable (upˈdateable) adjective

The American Heritage Dictionary includes:

cre·at′a·ble adj.

de•let′a•ble, adj.

… but not updatable or updateable.

Based on the above, the following would be correct:

  • isUpdateable
  • isCreatable
  • isDeletable

However, since the above sources do not agree with each other it’s possible that there are other sources which do allow updatable and createable.

So, the situation is somewhat confused. Perhaps you just have to accept that the absence of the extra “e” in deletable is just one of those things.

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