capable: [16] In common with a wide range of other English words, from capture to recuperate, capable comes from Latin capere ‘take’, a relative of English heave. An adjective derived from the verb was Latin capāx ‘able to hold much’, from which English gets capacious [17] and capacity [15]. From its stem capāci- was formed the late Latin adjective capābilis, also originally ‘able to contain things’.
This meaning still survived when the word passed, via French capable, into English (‘They are almost capable of a bushel of wheat’, Thomas Wright, The Passions of the Mind 1601), but by the end of the 18th century it had died out, having passed into the current ‘able to, susceptible of’. => capacious, capacity, capture, chase, heave, recuperate
capable (adj.)
1560s, from Middle French capable or directly from Late Latin capabilis "receptive; able to grasp or hold," used by theologians, from Latin capax "able to hold much, broad, wide, roomy;" also "receptive, fit for;" adjectival form of capere "to grasp, lay hold, take, catch; undertake; take in, hold; be large enough for; comprehend," from PIE *kap- "to grasp" (cognates: Sanskrit kapati "two handfuls;" Greek kaptein "to swallow, gulp down;" Lettish kampiu "seize;" Old Irish cacht "servant-girl," literally "captive;" Welsh caeth "captive, slave;" Gothic haban "have, hold;" Old English hæft "handle," habban "to have, hold," Modern English have). Related: Capably.
实用例句
1. I believe I am capable of calculating the political consequences accurately.
我觉得我能准确预料此事的政治后果。
来自柯林斯例句
2. All dogs are capable of doing harm to human beings.
只要是狗就可能会咬人。
来自柯林斯例句
3. She has an aged parent who's capable of being very difficult.
她有一个年迈的父亲，可能会很不好相处。
来自柯林斯例句
4. It is hard to imagine Lineker capable of anything so extreme.
很难想象莱恩克尔能做出如此极端的事情。
来自柯林斯例句
5. The larger firm was capable of providing a better range of services.
