convertible

English

A BMW convertible.

Etymology

From Old French convertible, from Late Latin convertibilis (“interchangeable”), from Latin convertere (“to turn back, to turn over, to turn around, to turn upside down”), from con- (“with, together”) + vertere (“to turn”), + -ibilis (“-ible: able to”). Equivalent to convert +‎ -ible.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kənˈvɜːtɪbl̩/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /kənˈvɝtɪbl̩/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)tɪbəl

Adjective

convertible (comparative more convertible, superlative most convertible)

1. Able to be converted, particularly:
   1. Able to be exchanged, one for the other, especially
      • 1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, “ch. VI, Two Centuries”, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, published 1843, →OCLC, book III (The Modern Worker):

        As if, in truth, there were no God of Labour; as if godlike Labour and brutal Mammonism were convertible terms.

      1. (historical numismatics) Able to be exchanged for specie.
      2. (numismatics) Able to be exchanged for foreign currency.
      3. (finance) Able to be exchanged for a different class of security (usually common stock) under certain set terms.
   2. (logic) Able to undergo conversion (i.e., inversion) without falsehood.
   3. Able to be turned, especially
      1. (obsolete) Able to be turned in a different direction.
         • 1635, Nathanael Carpenter, Geography Delineated Forth in Two Bookes (1.4.77)

           The Axis of the Earth is supposed to haue a convertible nature.

      2. Able to be turned to a different purpose.
      3. Able to be turned to a different religion or belief.
   4. Able to be turned into a different thing, especially
      1. (vehicles) Able to change from a closed to an open frame and back again.
      2. (obsolete) Able to be easily digested.

Synonyms

• (able to be exchanged): equivalent, interchangeable, swappable; synonymous (of words)

Antonyms

• inconvertible

Derived terms

• convertible husbandry
• convertible land
• convertible mark
• convertibleness
• convertible pants
• convertible security
• convertibly
• interconvertible
• nonconvertible
• photoconvertible
• reconvertible
• semiconvertible
• unconvertible

 

Translations

able to be converted

• Bulgarian: обратим (bg) (obratim), конвертируем (konvertiruem)
• Catalan: convertible (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 可轉化的 / 可转化的 (kě zhuǎnhuà de), 可轉變的 / 可转变的 (kě zhuǎnbiàn de), 兩用的 / 两用的 (liǎngyòng de), 可兌換的 / 可兑换的 (kě duìhuàn de)

• Finnish: muuntokelpoinen, muunneltava (fi)
• French: convertible (fr)
• Hungarian: (in general) átalakítható (hu), átváltoztatható, átváltható (hu), (currency) konvertibilis (hu), (car roof) lenyitható, lehajtható (hu), nyitható (hu), (religion) megtéríthető
• Manx: so-cheaghley, so-çhyndaa
• Portuguese: convertível m or f, conversível (pt) m or f
• Romanian: convertibil (ro) m or n
• Russian: конверти́руемый (ru) (konvertírujemyj)
• Spanish: convertible (es)
• Swedish: konverterbar (sv), konvertibel (rare)
• Tagalog: mababalinyo

Noun

convertible (plural convertibles)

1. (dated, in the plural) Interchangeable things or terms.
2. (vehicles) A convertible car: a car with a removable or foldable roof able to convert from a closed to open vehicle and back again.
3. (finance) A convertible security: a stock, bond, etc. that can be turned into another (usually common stock) under certain set terms.
4. (computing) A computer able to convert from laptop to tablet and back again.

Synonyms

• (car with removable roof): cabriolet, cabrio (used of European cars), drophead (British), landau, roadster

Translations

car whose roof can be removed or folded

• Arabic: حَنْطُور m (ḥanṭūr)
• Bulgarian: кабрио n (kabrio)
• Catalan: descapotable (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 敞篷車 / 敞篷车 (cong² pung⁴ ce¹)

  Mandarin: 敞篷車 / 敞篷车 (zh) (chǎngpéngchē)

• Danish: cabriolet (da) c
• Esperanto: kabrioleto
• Finnish: avoauto (fi)
• French: décapotable (fr) f, cabriolet (fr) m
• Galician: convertíbel (gl) m, convertible (gl)
• German: Cabriolet (de) m, Cabrio (de) n, (rarely) Kabriolett (de) n
• Hungarian: kabrió (hu), lenyitható/lehajtható/nyitható tetejű autó
• Japanese: オープンカー (ja) (ōpunkā), コンバーチブル (ja) (konbāchiburu), カブリオレ (ja) (kaburiore)
• Macedonian: кабриоле́т m (kabriolét)
• Navajo: chidí nadlééh, chidí bikʼi dah azbaalígíí
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kabriolet m

  Nynorsk: kabriolet m

• Polish: kabriolet (pl) m
• Portuguese: conversível (pt) m, descapotável (pt) (Portugal), cabriolé (pt) m
• Russian: кабриоле́т (ru) m (kabriolét)
• Spanish: convertible (es) m (Latin America), descapotable (es) m (Spain), cabriolé (es) m
• Swedish: cabriolet (sv) c, cab (sv) c
• Turkish: kabriyole

See also

• landaulet

References

• “convertible, adj. and n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1893.

French

Etymology

From the verb convertir.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃.vɛʁ.tibl/

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

convertible (plural convertibles)

1. convertible (able to be converted)

Derived terms

• convertiblement

Further reading

• “convertible”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kombeɾˈtible/ [kõm.beɾˈt̪i.β̞le]
• Rhymes: -ible
• Syllabification: con‧ver‧ti‧ble

Adjective

convertible m or f (masculine and feminine plural convertibles)

1. convertible

Derived terms

• convertibilidad

 

Noun

convertible m (plural convertibles)

1. (Latin America) convertible (car)

   Synonym: descapotable

Related terms

• convertir

 

Further reading

• “convertible”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10