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I want a word that means "something that can be flipped".

Eg. "I have designed a flippable card like animation for my website."

I found the word in Wiktionary, however I did not find it in any other recognised dictionaries.

Is it a valid word? Nonetheless, is there any better alternative that fits my sentence?

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    Flippable sounds fine to me. The meaning is obvious. The word is already in use in other contexts (e.g., real estate, politics, mattresses).
    – nnnnnn
    Commented Nov 20, 2019 at 6:32
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    You can add "able" to any verb that would fit into "something that can be Xed". Dictionaries don't generally list all these possibilities, the meanings are obvious.
    – Barmar
    Commented Nov 20, 2019 at 23:51
  • @Barmar I am aware that dictionaries don't explicitly list them, but they at least redirect you automatically to its primary word if you type its variation in the search box. For eg. try typing rotatable and flippable in Merriam Webster's (or any other dictionary's) website and you will see the difference for yourself
    – Kewal Shah
    Commented Nov 21, 2019 at 4:46
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    Well, they don't even bother enumerating all the possible variations of a word. You can add prefixes and suffixes in almost arbitrary combinations. People are constantly creating these things on the fly, it's almost impossible for lexicographers to keep track of all of them.
    – Barmar
    Commented Nov 21, 2019 at 10:46
  • There is nothing wrong with "flippable", other than it's not considered starchily "formal". "Reversible" would probably be the closest synonym, in most contexts.
    – Hot Licks
    Commented Nov 24, 2019 at 22:13

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The word flippable sounds like a valid word, but should not be regarded as formal English. It is not considered a flat out error though.

There are some formal words like adaptable that have become more standard and have an -able ending, and have become more formal, mostly through Latin and French.

Better alternative for flippable Other alternatives for flippable could be turnable or interchangeable. Interchangeable could be a better alternative than turnable, the Oxford English Dictionary considers interchangeable a word, but not turnable. Interchangeable being used for mutual substitution for something else, (the next card). I wouldn’t say that turnable or interchangeable would be a better alternative for flippable since flippable has an obvious meaning as @nnnnnn noted.

Flippable would be acceptable most times, and understood most times, but wouldn’t always be regarded as “formal”. As for a more formal replacement, interchangeable would be a more formal alternative, but isn’t always a perfect substitution, it depends on the context.

As for adding -able to verbs you can check out: https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/15203/is-putting-able-to-any-verb-allowed

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  • Spinnable and flippable mean different things - although they're both describing a type of rotation they're about rotation around different axes.
    – nnnnnn
    Commented Nov 25, 2019 at 1:56

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