Immutable may describe something that is incapable of change, but the word itself—like all words—is mutable, both capable of and prone to alteration. To put a finer point on it, if language were fixed, we wouldn’t have immutable itself, which required a variety of mutations of the Latin verb mutare (“to change”) to reach our tongues (or pens, keyboards, or touchscreens—oh the many permutations of communication!). Other English words that can be traced back to mutare include mutate, transmute, and commute. Which reminds us—the mutability of language makes great food for thought during one’s commute.
the immutable laws of nature
one of the immutable laws of television is that low ratings inevitably lead to cancellation
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What remains immutable is the physics of computation itself: the energy required to power these systems.—Aya Saed, Time, 17 June 2025 More to Explore This represents the securitization of gender: identity is linked with security because the government believes that knowing who people are helps assess risk, and gender is taken as an immutable marker of identity.—Laura Clawson, JSTOR Daily, 7 June 2025 The blueprint has a more immutable deadline: September.—Jasmin Malik Chua, Sourcing Journal, 3 June 2025 All transactions—encompassing policy issuance, claims and payments—are meticulously recorded on a decentralized ledger using immutable and tamper-proof records.—Arpna Aggarwal, Forbes.com, 29 May 2025 See All Example Sentences for immutable
Word History
Etymology
Middle English, from Latin immutabilis, from in- + mutabilis mutable
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