what's the difference between "eatable" and "edible" ?

There is no essential difference in meaning, which is "suitable or safe to eat", though eatable also has a sub-context of food that is "good enough to eat".

He seems to feel that you were criticizing his cooking. Perhaps it would have been better to say "This is really good. It is so tasty".

edible means eatable, but also non-poisonous

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eat·able

: fit to be eaten: a : such as can be taken as food without risk or utter revulsion though usually without pleasure<a piece of bread, stale and slightly moldy but eatable> b : pleasant to eat <her cher

Maybe "eatable" is more common in Britain and Canada than in the U.S. It's not heard much in the U.S. -- "edible" is definitely more commonly used.

Generally, IMO:

edible: shows a more cultivated speaker

Hi,

I can't remenber ever encountering the word 'eatable'.

Clive

Edible and eatable are both valid words. Edible means non-poisonous. Eatable usually means good to eat. Something that is eatable is always edible, but edible things are not always eatable.

If you were lost in a forest, you would look for some edible plants to help you survive. You might not find them eatable, but at least you wouldn't die.

"Eatable" may well be a valid word, but, like Clive, I've never heard it used -- except possibly in a sort of humorous way that a speaker might add -able to any verb that does not usually take that form. ("This leftover meatloaf has been in the refrigerator for a week -- is it still eatable?" "No, I think it's throw-out-able.") Certainly I don't know anyone who uses it seriously, as distinct fr

I agree that most people don't use the word eatable or understand its meaning - something I noted in my earlier post - but it's obviously still in circulation in certain circles, since the thread poster's friend used it (accurately), which is what spawned this topic!

Your example of the piece of cake left in the sun shows that edible has at least two meanings in modern usage, one of whic

My browser is Internet Explorer and my operating system is Windows XP. Sometimes I see two boxes after the colon in your name, and sometimes one box followed by a schwa. What's the difference between phonemic script and phonetic transcription? I notice that the phonetic transcription of "teacher" in my dictionary has an "r" followingthe schwa, which is what I would expect, but your phonemic ve

Thanks for the info.

/r/ follows the schwa in teacher in most American accents, but not in RP, which I tend to stick to for transcriptions. Do you have an American dictionary?

Phonemic and phonetic are close, but not the same thing. Phonemic script consists of the (roughly) 44 different sounds that differentiate words. Phonetic transcription can include any of the symbols in the