'printable' originates from English, formed from the verb 'print' and the suffix '-able', where '-able' meant 'capable of or suitable for'.

'print' changed from Middle English 'printen' (to press or imprint), via Old French (related to 'empreindre') and ultimately from Latin 'premere' meaning 'to press'; the suffix '-able' comes from Latin '-abilis'.

Initially, 'print' meant 'to press or imprint'; over time it evolved to mean producing text or images by mechanical or digital processes, and 'printable' came to mean 'able to be produced by such processes (able to be printed)'.