countable

English

Etymology

From Middle English countable, equivalent to count (“to enumerate”) +‎ -able.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkaʊn.tə.bəl/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈkaʊn.tə.bəl/, [ˈkʰãʊ̯̃n.(ɾ)ə.bɫ̩]

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aʊntəbəl
• Hyphenation: count‧a‧ble

Adjective

countable (not comparable)

1. Capable of being counted; having a quantity.

   Antonym: uncountable

2. (mathematics, of a set) finite or countably infinite; having a one-to-one correspondence (bijection) with a subset of the natural numbers.

   Antonym: uncountable

3. (mathematics, of a set) Countably infinite; having a bijection with the natural numbers.

   Synonym: denumerable

4. (grammar, of a noun) Freely usable with the indefinite article and with numbers.

   Antonym: uncountable

   • 2014, James Lambert, “Diachronic stability in Indian English lexis”, in World Englishes, page 112:

     In these extracts the word abuse is used in the sense of ‘an individual piece of invective’ or ‘an abusive comment’ and is clearly a countable noun.

Usage notes

The mathematics sense by which finite sets are countable is more common than the sense by which finite sets are not countable. To avoid ambiguity, the terms at most countable or countably infinite may be used.

Antonyms

• non-denumerable
• uncountable

Hypernyms

• (countably infinite): infinite

Hyponyms

• (having a bijection with a subset of the natural numbers): finite, countably infinite

Derived terms

• axiom of countable choice
• countability
• countable additivity
• countableness
• countable set
• countably
• noncountable
• second-countable
• subcountable
• uncountable

 

Related terms

• countability

Translations

capable of being counted, having a quantity

• Catalan: comptable (ca)
• Czech: spočitatelný
• Danish: tællelig (da)
• Dutch: telbaar (nl), telbare (nl)
• Finnish: numeroituva (fi)
• French: dénombrable (fr)
• Georgian: თვლადი (tvladi), გამოთვლადი (gamotvladi)
• German: zählbar (de)
• Hindi: गणनीय (hi) (gaṇnīya)
• Hungarian: megszámlálható (hu)
• Italian: enumerabile
• Japanese: 数えられる (kazoerareru)
• Manx: yn-choontey
• Persian: شمارشپذیر
• Portuguese: enumerável, contável (pt)
• Romanian: numărabil (ro)
• Russian: исчисли́мый (ru) (isčislímyj)
• Slovene: števen
• Spanish: contable (es)
• Swedish: räknebar (sv), räknelig (sv)
• Walloon: contåve (wa)
• Welsh: rhifadwy (cy)

math: having a bijection with a subset of the natural numbers

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 可數／可数 (zh) (kěshǔ)

• Czech: spočetný
• Dutch: aftelbaar (nl)
• Finnish: numeroituva (fi)
• French: dénombrable (fr)
• German: abzählbar (de)
• Hungarian: megszámlálható (hu)
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} finito o numerabile , (uncommon anglicism) ^{(please verify)} contabile (it)
• Japanese: 可算 (ja) (kasan)
• Persian: شمارشپذیر
• Polish: przeliczalny
• Portuguese: contável (pt)
• Slovene: števen
• Spanish: numerable
• Swedish: uppräknelig (sv)

math: having a bijection with the natural numbers

• Finnish: numeroituva (fi)
• Polish: przeliczalny

grammar: freely used with numbers and the definite article

• Arabic: مَعْدُود (maʕdūd)
• Belarusian: выліча́льны (vyličálʹny)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 可數／可数 (zh) (kěshǔ)

• Czech: počitatelný (cs) m
• Dutch: telbaar (nl), telbare (nl)
• Estonian: loenduv
• Finnish: luvullinen
• French: dénombrable (fr)
• Georgian: თვლადი (tvladi)
• German: zählbar (de)
• Hungarian: megszámlálható (hu), számszerű (hu)
• Italian: numerabile (it)
• Japanese: 可算 (ja) (かさん, kasan)
• Polish: policzalny (pl)
• Portuguese: contável (pt)
• Russian: исчисля́емый (ru) (isčisljájemyj)
• Slovene: števen
• Swedish: räknebar (sv)
• Ukrainian: обчи́слювальний (občýsljuvalʹnyj)

Noun

countable (plural countables)

1. (grammar) A countable noun.

See also

• denumerability, enumerability
• mass noun
• plurale tantum