Victoria Sheinkin
PEK-a-ble
Definition: liable or prone to sin, one who is susceptible to temptation.
Origin
Dated back to the 1620’s, this sinful adjective stems from the Latin peccantem or peccare meaning to sin.
Why this word?
This great word was suggested to us by Joelle Fiverr, thank you Joelle!
This word however, is interesting for a few more reasons. There are quite a few lexical derivatives following the Latin peccare, all made it into the English language in the years between 1550’s to the 1620’s, but nowadays they are all lost words.
The word introduced to you today is an adjective, but so is peccant, and both are marked as misspell by MS Word. Peccadillo is a noun stemming from the same peccare, but due to the suffix- this one means a small sin, a light sin. Peccavi is a verb, dated back to the 1550’s, meaning I have sinned.
How to use peccable?
Peccable reminds me of the word despicable; the two sound the same and have the negative sense inherent within the phonology of these words. Use this word when it comes to really sinful individuals, involving really sinful deeds.
“After the minister was caught stealing money from his mistress, an article was published about his peccable ways”.
“He is a peccable person; you should stay away from him”
