Assemblable

[atm622]

Does the word "assemblable" exist in US English?

I am looking for a word that means "capable of being assembled" and I don't want to use the word buildable.

[sandyRoe]

constructible ?

[atm622]

Thanks Sandy. Sounds good...can anyone confirm that assemblable does not exist please?

[sandyRoe]

It does. see below

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/assemblable

[boxtops]

That's in UK English then, I don't know about US English.

[sandyRoe]

Both 'assemblable' and 'constructible' are a bit inelegant. How were you going to use this word?

[atm622]

Sorry to persist, how reliable is wiktionary.org? I am editing a scientific paper and want to be 100%!

[boxtops]

If you are writing an academic paper then I wouldn't use the term at all - I would subsistute it for "which can be assembled", or "which is able to be assembled".

[sandyRoe]

http://www.wordnik.com/words/assemblable
There's a second source

[atm622]

The context is an "an assemblable hand" ... meaning a robotic hand that can assemble itself automatically when inserted inside a body. It is used in the title of the paper, so I need to be short!

[boxtops]

OK then - but from your last post, it should be "self-assembling", I think!

[atm622]

I think it exists...http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/freea
bs_all.jsp?arnumber=5354545


http://ieeexplore.iee...578&authDecision=-203

http://ieeexplore.iee....jsp?arnumber=4543809

[sandyRoe]

It does. But as I said earlier it's not the most elegant of words. Boxtops suggestion of 'self-assembling' looks much better to me.

[atm622]

I was wrong, it does not assemble itself; an operator assembles it.

[boxtops]

OK, then stick with assemblable - it's awkward but it's in the dictionary.

[atm622]

Thanks for your help. I will keep hating the word!

I will suggest that he uses "hand assembly" in the title, since it is obvious that an assembly will be assembled!