affable
adjective

- being pleasant and at ease in talking to others; characterized by ease and friendliness

- pleasantly easy to approach and to talk to; friendly; courteous; warmly polite

- gentle and courteous in manner; easy to speak to; benign, kind

Merriam-Webster, Dictionary Com, Oxford English Dictionary

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WORD ORIGIN

Affable entered English in the late fifteenth century, borrowed from Old French affable (14th century), which in turn came from Latin affābilis — meaning "one who can easily be spoken to." From Latin affārī (“to speak to”), from ad- (“to”) + fārī (“to speak”), with assimilation of d → f.

Fārī is a remarkably productive root. It connects affable to a surprising family of English words: fable (from fabula, "a story told aloud"), infant (literally "one who cannot yet speak," from infans), fate (from fatum, "that which has been spoken" — as if by the gods), fame, infamous, ineffable (that which cannot be spoken), and even preface (words spoken before).

The Old English gloss for the concept was wordwynsum — literally "word-pleasant" or "pleasant in words" — a charming compound that captures exactly what affable still means today.

In classical Latin, affābilis described a person of senior standing who was willing to be spoken to — an accessible magistrate or general, not just someone who smiled a lot. The word therefore carried an undertone of social status: an affable Roman senator chose to make himself reachable. By the time the word reached Middle English via Old French, that social inflection had softened into the general sense of warmth and ease in conversation that we use today.

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FRIENDLY PROVERBS

- A friend in need is a friend indeed (Latin)

- One who walks with wolves learns to howl (Spanish)

- Speak well of your friend; of your enemy neither well nor ill (Italian)

- Who seeks a faultless friend remains friendless (Turkish)

- A good friend is he who speaks well of you behind your back (Chinese)

- Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light (Syrian)

- A friend’s eye is a good mirror (Irish)

- Friendship, like wine, gets better with time (French)

Every one of these sayings was passed down because someone felt it was worth remembering. Behind each one is a real friendship — probably complicated, tested, and imperfect. What they celebrate instead is honesty, loyalty, and the willingness to show up when things are hard.

Helga & Paul Smith

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SYNONYMS

a good egg, AFFABLE, agreeable, amiable, amicable, approachable, benign, bonhomous, breezy, brotherly, charming, cheerful, civil, clubbable, companionable, congenial, convivial, cordial, courteous, downright neighbourly, easy to talk to, easy-going, empathetic, engaging, en rapport, folksy, forthcoming, free and easy, friendly, genial, good company, good-humoured, good-natured, gracious, gregarious, hail-fellow-well-met, hospitable, kind, kind-hearted, kindly, likeable, magnanimous, makes people feel at ease, mellow, mild, mild-mannered, natural conversationalist, neighbourly, obliging, open-handed, open-hearted, palsy-walsy, personable, pleasant (to be around), polite, receptive, relaxed, salt of the earth, sociable, soft-hearted, sweet-natured, sweet-tempered, tactful, tender-hearted, unflappable, warm, warm-hearted, warm personality, welcoming, well-disposed, white-hat, winning, winsome

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SMUGGLE OWAD into a conversation today, say something like:

“Thank goodness for the AFFABLE people we are surrounded by.”

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