different between eatable vs seedeater

English

Etymology

eat +? -able (“able, capable”)

Adjective

eatable (comparative more eatable, superlative most eatable)

1. Able to be eaten; edible.

   • The contents of the pan began to boil, and he turned to plunge his hand into the bowl; I conjectured that this preparation was probably for our supper, and, being hungry, I resolved it should be eatable;

   • 1911, Baboon, article in Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition,

     Their diet includes practically everything eatable they can capture or kill.

Usage notes

Rather informal, and sometimes proscribed by authorities. edible is the usual term, and much more frequent, while comestible is relatively formal.

More narrowly, used to mean “food that can be eaten, but is not of very high quality”.

Synonyms

• comestible
• edible

Antonyms

• uneatable

Coordinate terms

• drinkable, potable

Translations

Noun

eatable (plural eatables)

1. (chiefly in the plural) Anything edible; food.
   • 1675, E. W., An Exact Relation of All the Late Revolutions in Messina, London, p. 2,^[2]

     The Excise which is laid very high throughout all Sicily, especially upon all eatables and wearing apparel is usually there […]

   • 1773, Oliver Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer, London: F. Newbery, Act II, p. 18,^[3]

     Ecod, your worship, I never have courage till I see the eatables and drinkables brought upo’ the table, and then I’m as bauld as a lion.

   • 1857, Thomas Hughes, Tom Brown’s School Days, Part I, Chapter 2,^[4]

     […] the ground […] was already being occupied by the “cheap Jacks,” with their green-covered carts and marvellous assortment of wares; and the booths of more legitimate small traders, with their tempting arrays of fairings and eatables; and penny peep-shows and other shows, containing pink-eyed ladies, and dwarfs, and boa-constrictors, and wild Indians.

   • 1890, Knut Hamsen, Sult (Hunger), Part One, at p.45 (Canongate Books Ltd. 2016 paperback edition), Sverre Lyngstad translation:

     Someplace in the Hegdehaugen area I stopped outside a grocer's where some food was displayed in the window. A cat lay asleep beside a round loaf of white bread, and just behind it was a bowl of lard and several jars of oats. I stood eyeing these eatables a while, but since I didn't have anything to buy with I turned away from them and continued my tramp.

   • 1908, Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables, London: L.C. Page & Co., Chapter 21, p. 222,^[5]

     “You’ll be using the best tea-set, of course, Marilla,” she said. “Can I fix up the table with ferns and wild roses?”

     “I think that’s all nonsense,” sniffed Marilla. “In my opinion it’s the eatables that matter and not flummery decorations.”

   • 2011, “For kids’ sake, a long, cold wake,” Deccan Herald, 8 January, 2011,^[6]

     The presence of a large number of people ensured that vendors selling eatables made brisk business.

Synonyms

• comestible
• edible

English

Etymology

seed +? eater

Noun

seedeater (plural seedeaters)

1. (literally) An individual or species which eats seeds.
2. A bird species which feeds mainly on seeds.

   Most seedeaters have strong, typically shaped bills.

3. Any bird in the genus Sporophila of the tanager family, Thraupidae
4. Any bird in the genus Amaurospiza, now classified in the family Cardinalidae

Synonyms

• (bird): hard-bill

Translations