'relocatable' originates from English, specifically from the verb 'relocate', where the prefix 're-' meant 'again' and the root 'locate' (from Latin 'locare') meant 'to place'; the adjectival suffix '-able' means 'capable of'.

'relocate' was formed in modern English by adding the prefix 're-' to 'locate' (from Latin 'locare'); later, the adjective 'relocatable' was created by adding the suffix '-able' to 'relocate'.

Initially related to the idea of 'placing again' (from 'relocate'); over time the adjective 'relocatable' came to mean more generally 'able to be moved or transferred' in modern usage.