portable

From Middle English portable, from Middle French portable and Latin portābilis.^[1] By surface analysis, port (“to carry”) +‎ -able.

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• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpɔː(ɹ)təbəl/, /ˈpɔː(ɹ)təbl̩/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈpɔɹtəbəl/, /ˈpɔɹtəbl̩/, [ˈpʰɔɹɾɪ̈bl̩]
• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)təbəl
• Hyphenation: por‧ta‧ble

portable (comparative more portable, superlative most portable)

1. Able to be carried or easily moved.
2. Able to be transferred from one organization to another.

   a portable pension plan

3. (computing) Of software: able to be run on multiple hardware or operating systems.
   • 2012, Herbert Schildt, C++: A Beginner's Guide, Second Edition, page 6:

     How do Java and C# create cross-platform, portable programs, and why can't C++ do the same?

4. (computing) Of a program: able to be copied directly from one machine to another without the use of an installer.
   • 2014, Bertrand Dufrasne, Bruce Allworth, Desire Brival, IBM XIV Storage System: Host Attachment and Interoperability, page 10:

     Starting with release 1.7, a portable version allows all Host Attachment Kit commands to be run without installing the Host Attachment Kit.

5. (obsolete) Bearable, endurable.
   • c. 1603–1606 (date written), [William Shakespeare], […] His True Chronicle Historie of the Life and Death of King Lear and His Three Daughters. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Nathaniel Butter, […], published 1608, →OCLC, [Act III, scene vi], signature [G4], verso:

     How light and portable my paine ſeemes now, / When that which makes me bend, makes the King bow.

   • a. 1654, Hugh Binning, “Sermon VIII. Matt[hew] xi. 29.—Take my yoke upon you, &c.”, in James Cochrane, editor, The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning: […] (Select Library of Scottish Divines: […]; III), volume III, Edinburgh: William Whyte & Co. […], published 1840, →OCLC, page 244:

     Christianity consists in a blessed exchange of yokes between Christ and a pious soul. He takes our uneasy yoke, and gives his easy yoke: the soul puts upon him that unsupportable yoke of transgressions, and takes from him the portable yoke of his commandments.

   • 1689, R[obert] Renwick, editor, Extracts from the Records of the Royal Burgh of Stirling. A.D. 1667-1752. […], Glasgow: […] [T]he Glasgow Stirlingshire and Sons of the Rock Society, published 1889, →OCLC, page 58:

     It was also objected against John Chrystie in Spittell that he not being ane residenter within this burgh could not vote. To quhich it was answered that he is ane burges of the burgh and hes borne portable burding with the remanent burgesses these xxiiij yeares bygone.

   • 1707, W[illiam] B[lack], “Sect[ion] I. Anent Their Regulating Elections within the Burgh.”, in The Privileges of the Royal Burrows […], Edinburgh: […] [T]he Heirs and Successors of Andrew Anderson, […], →OCLC, chapter V (Of the Constitution of the Convention of Burrows, and Their Privileges), page 47:

     [N]one be choſen to be upon the Council but Magiſtrats and Craftſmen, actual and real Burgeſſes dwelling within the Town, and bearing all portable charges within the ſame; […]

• hand-held
• transportable

portable (plural portables)

1. A portable building used for temporary purposes, particularly:
   1. Clipping of portable toilet.
   2. A trailer or other movable structure used for classes at a school.
2. (computing) Clipping of portable computer.
   • 1985, New Accountant, volumes 1-3, page lxvii:

     A few portables, particularly the small laphelds, go one step further and come with software built into the computer.

   • 1987, InfoWorld, volume 9, number 20, page 71:

     Compaq portables have grown lighter and more powerful since then. Their newest luggable, the Compaq Portable III, is six times more powerful and 10 pounds lighter than the original model.

3. (video games) A hand-held video gaming device.

• (facility for urination and defecation): See Thesaurus:bathroom

• tropable

Borrowed from Latin portābilis.

• IPA^(key): (Central) [purˈtab.blə]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [porˈtab.blə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [poɾˈta.ble]

portable m or f (masculine and feminine plural portables)

1. portable

   Synonym: portàtil

• portar

• “portable”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “portable”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025.
• “portable” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “portable” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Borrowed from Latin portābilis. By surface analysis, porter +‎ -able.

• IPA^(key): /pɔʁ.tabl/

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portable (plural portables)

1. portable

• téléphone portable
• ordinateur portable

• portatif

portable m (plural portables)

1. a mobile phone; ellipsis of téléphone portable
2. a laptop; ellipsis of ordinateur portable

   Synonym: ordinateur portable m

• (mobile phone): mobile m, téléphone portable m, cellulaire m (Quebec), cell, téléphone mobile, téléphone cellulaire

• “portable”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

From Latin portabilis.

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portable m (feminine singular portabla, masculine plural portables, feminine plural portablas)

1. portable

• portar

• Joan de Cantalausa (2006) Diccionari general occitan a partir dels parlars lengadocians‎^[1], 2 edition, →ISBN, page 769.

Borrowed from Medieval Latin portābilis; equivalent to portar +‎ -able.

• IPA^(key): /poɾˈtable/ [poɾˈt̪a.β̞le]
• Rhymes: -able
• Syllabification: por‧ta‧ble

portable m or f (masculine and feminine plural portables)

1. portable

   Synonym: portátil

• “portable”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024