The dialect is American English, but I'd be interested to know if this varies between dialects. Is it"togglable" or "toggleable"? Because neither dictionary.com, webster.com, nor Outlook's spelling suggestions/checker tend to have any record of this word. I have a hard time believing it's not a word in proper English though, and I would be tempted to think its spelling is "toggleable".
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4Google's book search reveals 300 results for "toggleable" and 45 results for "togglable". Not a lot of traction on either word, but "toggleable" is more popular.– Ian MacDonaldCommented Mar 10, 2015 at 13:30
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Why don't you believe it's not a word? Generally you would use "two-state widget" or "widget that can be toggled".– Kevin WorkmanCommented Mar 10, 2015 at 13:33
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8Syntactically and orthographically, to toggle is much the same as to handle, where Google NGram makes it pretty obvious most people still retain the 'e' in 'handleable'. Contrast with sizable/sizeable, where most people have discarded the 'e', and lovable/loveable, where practically everyone has discarded it. Me, I'm just hopelessly inconsistent.– FumbleFingersCommented Mar 10, 2015 at 13:58
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4Related, possible duplicates: Rules for removing last vowel when adding “-able”?, When to drop the 'e' when ending in -able?– chosterCommented Mar 10, 2015 at 15:54
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1@Kevin: Any word + valid affix = word. It's called "productive morphology."– BenCommented Oct 25, 2019 at 17:15
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1 Answer
It's not a word, so it has no formal spelling as of now. The English language's main strength is its adaptability, so one day it will most likely be officially accepted as a word, but for now, it has no defined spelling.
I would personally keep the e, as there are 3 consonants before it, and that makes me want to balance the scales a bit, and that's how it works in some others with the same scenario, like settleable, whistleable, and handleable.
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25Why do you say it's not a word? Just because it's not in a dictionary? If you're waiting for it to be "officially accepted as a word", you'll be waiting a long time, since there is no official organization with the power to do so. Anyway, I agree with the spelling suggested here.– herissonCommented Mar 10, 2015 at 16:59
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3Good point, I'm going with a technical not-a-word thing. There aren't any official organizations that represent the English language, sure, but Merriam-Webster qualifies in my eyes. Once they add a word, I consider it "official."– friff14Commented Mar 10, 2015 at 17:06
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4What about when it gets added to wiktionary? Or when it shows up > 500k times in Google? There simply is no "official" recognition of words in English, and arguably if two people use it and understand each other, it's already a word.– treefaceCommented Sep 12, 2017 at 20:43
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1@friff14: "...a technical not-a-word thing..." Again: There is no such thing, for English. If there were, it certainly wouldn't be Merriam-Webster; the OED, more likely. But they are clear their role (indeed, the role of English dictionaries in general) is descriptive, not prescriptive. Commented Mar 28, 2018 at 14:49
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I know this discussion is quite stale, but I've been saying for many years that "Common usage is correct usage" (in absence of a named style guide). If people readily understand toggleable to mean "something with two states that will transition back and forth between those states upon a discrete action" then it's a word. As far as leaving the 'e', I'd say it stays because the pronunciation in practice as far as I've heard is ˈtɒgələbəl not ˈtɒglɑːbəl (Tog-uhl-uh-bull not Tog-la-bull) contrast lovable where the v blends into the able.– PatrickCommented Oct 20, 2022 at 13:20