fungible

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   Any fungible item.

   The archetypical fungible is money: if I drop a £1 coin in the street it is a matter of indifference to me whether I pick up that coin or another £1 coin lying next to it.

1765 as noun, 1818 as adjective, from Medieval Latin fungibilis, from Latin fungor (“to perform, discharge a duty”) + -ible (“able to”). Originally a legal term, going back to Roman law: res fungibiles (“replaceable things”).

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