Attainable means within reach if you work for it. An attainable goal, attainable targets, barely attainable.
It is the useful half of goal-setting advice, since a target is only motivating while it stays attainable. It says nothing about how hard, only that the thing is possible.
1adjectiveattainableWithin reach if you work for it.
“Set yourself attainable goals, like running a mile, before you try a marathon.”
attainable is a quality.
From attain, from Old French ateindre, from Latin attingere, to reach, plus -able.
Proto-Indo-European
*teh₂g- — to grasp; to touch
Latin
attingere
Vulgar Latin
*attangere
Old French
ataindre
Anglo-Norman
ataindre
Middle English
atteinen
English
attain
English, today
attainable
Built from
From attain + able. attain The is derived from Middle English atteinen, atteynen (“to achieve, attain; to be adequate or sufficient; to affect; to come or get to (a place), reach; to corrupt, taint; to overcome, overpower; to overtake; to succeed; to tamper with; (law) to bring to justice, punish”), from ataign-, a of Anglo-Norman ataindre, and Old French ataindre, attaindre (“to reach”) (modern French atteindre), from Vulgar Latin attangere, from Latin attingere, the of attingō (“to come into contact with, touch; to affect; to arrive at, reach; etc.”), from ad- (appearing as at- due to assimilation with the following t, inducing) + tangō (“to grasp, touch; to arrive at, reach; to attain; etc.”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European teh₂g- (“to grasp; to touch”)). a doublet of attainder and attinge. The is derived from the verb.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA