civilizable

8.9

Able to learn to live in a more polite or modern way

adjective
/ˈsɪvəlɪzaːbəl/

: civilizable

The government invested in education and infrastructure to help the previously neglected areas become more civilizable.

Examples

Notwithstanding complaints of illicit liquor use and drunkenness, many Indian agents described aboriginal peoples as inherently lawful, hardworking, and civilizable.

Academic text (2010)
But crime also enforced other racial and geographical distinctions: to divide populations that were potentially civilizable from those that needed discipline and eventually exclusion.

Academic text (2010)
Many communities are working hard to create civilizable environments for their residents to thrive.
The experts debated whether the remote lands could ever be considered civilizable given their harsh conditions.

How Civilized

refined

Formal

25 4.1

civilized

5 4.3

civilizable

8.9

uncivilized

Offensive

14 5.9

primitive

171 5.1

Surface Forms

civilizable positive

Morphology

civilizable = civilize (transparent) = civil + ize + able

The word is formed by adding the productive adjectival suffix '-able' to the verb 'civilize', yielding 'able to be made civilized', which is directly derivable.

Etymology

Civilizable comes from civilize + -able, and civilize comes from the Latin word civilis meaning 'citizen'. So something civilizable is 'able to be made more like a citizen', meaning it can be made more polite or fit for ordinary society.