navigable
UK[ˈnævɪɡəbl]US[ˈnævɪɡəbl]
adj
(of a body of water) wide and deep enough to allow ships to travel through it.
adj
(of a website or software) easy to move around in; easy to understand and use.
Morpheme Breakdown
nav
ig
able
nav
ship
ig
drive
able
capable of
Etymology
the word navigable is built upon the latin verb 'navigare', meaning to sail. this verb itself is a compound of 'navis' (ship) and 'agere' (to drive). the core concept is literally "to drive a ship." the english adjective was formed by adding the suffix '-able' to a stem derived from this latin verb, shifting the meaning from the action of sailing to the quality that permits it. thus, navigable describes waters that are capable of being sailed upon or driven through by ships, a meaning later extended metaphorically to digital spaces that are easy to steer through.
Analysis
Structure: nav (ship) + ig (drive) + able (capable of)
nav is from latin 'navis', meaning ship. ig is from latin 'agere', meaning to drive, act, or do. able is a suffix from latin '-abilis', meaning capable of, fit for.
Examples
the river is only navigable by small boats during the dry season.
a well-designed website should be intuitively navigable.
engineers worked to clear the channel and make it navigable for commercial traffic.