From French 'viable' (capable of living), from Latin 'vita' (life) — literally 'able to survive.'
Capable of working successfully; feasible. Capable of surviving or living successfully, especially of a fetus or newborn at a stage of development sufficient to survive outside the womb.
From French 'viable' (capable of living, able to survive), from 'vie' (life), from Latin 'vīta' (life), from 'vīvere' (to live), from PIE *gʷeyh₃- (to live, to be alive). The French suffix '-able' (capable of, suited for) is from Latin '-ābilis.' The word entered English primarily through medical usage in the early 19th century, describing whether a newborn or fetus was capable of independent survival outside the womb. From medicine it broadened to any plan, proposal, or organism capable of functioning and surviving on its own terms. The PIE
The concept of 'fetal viability' — the gestational age at which a fetus can survive outside the womb — has been one of the most consequential legal applications of an etymology. In Roe v. Wade (1973), the U.S. Supreme Court used viability as a key threshold: before viability, the state's interest in protecting potential life was weaker; after viability, it was stronger. The word 'viable' — literally 'capable of living' — thus became a constitutional boundary. As neonatal medicine