Word of the Day

: August 12, 2023

fungible

adjective FUN-juh-bul

What It Means

Fungible describes things, such as currency, goods, and commodities, that can be exchanged for something else of the same kind or value. In broader usage, fungible can also mean “interchangeable,” as well as “readily changeable to adapt to new situations.”

// A dollar bill is considered fungible because it can easily and acceptably be traded for ten dimes, four quarters, twenty nickels, or one hundred pennies.

// Since fruits and vegetables are regarded as fungible in this diet, you are allowed a total of five servings of either or both.

// Some baseball team managers set their batting orders in stone, while others prefer to keep their lineups fungible, to respond to the strengths or weaknesses of different opposing pitchers.

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fungible in Context

“Network television operates a little differently from its streaming counterparts. Episode orders are more fungible and networks also have the benefit of airing reruns.” — Alec Bojalad and David Crow, DenOfGeek.com, 11 May 2023

Did You Know?

Before expectations about the origins of fungible mushroom into mycological fantasy: no, fungible has no relation to the noun fungus and its plural fungi. The fungi in fungible is there because of the Latin verb fungi, meaning “to perform,” ancestor of both fungible and function. Fungible is considerably less familiar than its cousin to most English users, but it pops up like toadstools (sorry) in legal, technological, and economic contexts. Something described as fungible can be exchanged for something else of the same kind. For example, when we say “oil is a fungible commodity,” we mean that when a purchaser is expecting a delivery of oil, any oil of the stipulated quantity and quality will usually do. Another example of something fungible is cash. It doesn't matter what twenty dollar bill you get—it’s still worth the same amount as any other twenty dollar bill. In contrast, something like a work of art (or an NFT, aka a “non-fungible token”) isn’t fungible; a purchaser would expect a specific, identifiable item to be delivered. In broader use, fungible can mean “interchangeable,” or sometimes “readily changeable to adapt to new situations.”