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Equippable, while not a really a word, seems to be accepted by the gaming community as a term for this can be equipped. Is there a more appropriate word which is real, singular and essentially means the same? For example,

I may pick the item up and carry it. However, whether I may put it in my hand or not would be distinguished by whether it is equippable.

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Please clarify what makes you think that equippable is not a word. What is a "real" word anyway? If a word exists, is being used and understood by native speakers all over the world, is it not real? What is it then? –  RegDwigнt Jan 24 '12 at 18:14
@RedDwight: A word is "real" to the extent that it is (a) understood and (b) accepted in any given context. Both of these criteria take a range of values and are not simply true/false. (a) Few people outside a narrow constituency would recognize the word, but would have to figure it out. As Monica notes, they would probably guess that it means that a person or thing is capble of being equipped, not that it is able to be used for the equipping. (B) If you tried to use this word in a college paper or an article for publication outside a gaming magazine, it might well be declared a non-word. –  Jay Jan 24 '12 at 18:48

8 Answers 8

up vote 5 down vote accepted

Long-time gamer here and I'd go with carriable:

Able to be carried; portable.

It's expected that if you can carry an item, you can use it "on the go."

Also remember that considering language is a communication system of which the primary aim is to understand each other, you still can use equippable. If the listener clearly understands what you mean, the purpose of language is fulfilled and no "law" has been broken :)

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I'm already using something very similar for that purpose, attainable. I need to differentiate between being able to have something in your possession, and being able to equip that item. –  George Jan 24 '12 at 17:54
Also updated my answer. –  RiMMER Jan 24 '12 at 18:05
+1: Equippable is a perfectly cromulent word. –  Mr. Shiny and New 安宇 Jan 24 '12 at 18:10

I think the word you want is usable. The weapon (or scroll or potion or...) is usable or can be equpped or is equippable (the usage you're trying to replace).

Caution: the gaming world uses words like "equip" in a way that's somewhat counter to other contexts, which is part of what causes the confusion here. Gamers say that the object of the operation is "equippable", while others refer to the thing being equipped as being "equippable". For example, a car can be equipped with snow tires, but we would never say that the tires are "equippable". If anything is it's the car.

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"Usable" sounds like the answer to me. Is the OP looking for something more specific, like that it is usable for some specific purpose? –  Jay Jan 24 '12 at 18:50
Usable does not sound like the answer to me. Equippable and usable are two different things. Sure, they usually go hand in hand, but they don't mean the same thing. –  leetNightshade Dec 9 '14 at 0:36

I'm going to go with "No", that is, there is not a 'real' word that is more appropriate for your desired usage.

Equippable, despite not appearing in a dictionary under its own entry, is perfectly understandable, consisting of a well-known root plus a well-known suffix which fits the root just fine. There will not be any confusion caused by its usage. Go with it.

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Granted the context you provide, moddable seems to be an established modifier. I'm not understanding the relevance of the example you cite though, as it contains neither the word equippable nor any combination of words carrying its weight of meaning. Beyond that, the words expandable and upgradeable seem fine. It would be helpful however to have a very particular sentence to work with.

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updated with some context. –  George Jan 24 '12 at 17:56
Oh my. That changes things exponentially. –  Tom Raywood Jan 24 '12 at 18:08
So far, transportable seems to do. But do you mean, (I mean really), to think of the item as something which can be made to be portable, if only, that is, it were xxxx (where xxxx is the word you're asking for)? ...which is to say that the item, by design, would easily allow itself to be physically modified in order to become portable? –  Tom Raywood Jan 24 '12 at 18:16

Must it be a single word? I think "ready to equip" seems the most natural.

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I'm defining behaviors of items, and these behaviors are single *able type words, e.g. Removable, Augmentable, Applicable, Attainable. –  George Jan 24 '12 at 17:58

If your referring to equipment and how it can be configured, I would recommend "configurable."


However, if you are referring to whether it can be put in your hand (as opposed to portable in some other fashion, like slung over the shoulder), I would recommend "hand-operated".

What you mean by "put in my hand" could have a bearing on what you are looking for. (E.g., A car in the wrong hands can be a dangerous weapon.)

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My recommendations: strap-able, equip-able, attachable, wield-able

Equip to a gamer means;

*"A character's ability to make an item in their possession 'active' or 'ready for use' by occupying one of several 'slots' that represent the character's active items on a graphical user interface(GUI) un-equipping an item would be removing it from active duty and placing it back in your backpack or other form of storage."

When you think of equip in that sense you can see why other words will not work.

here is an example:


Items on the player are equipped items on the bottom portion are un-equipped

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i feel like most of you are arguing over whether or not using made up words that are universally understood is proper or not and not answering the question.

i had the same problem as the author of this topic and ultimately need a word that is synonymous with equippable and is accepted by spellcheck

I am going with attachable or wieldable.

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AIUI, "Wieldable" is limited specifically to weapons (or maybe hand items like tools, magic wands, etc), whereas "equippable" also works for armor and accessories. –  Random832 Mar 17 at 16:10

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