Docile means quietly obedient and easy to handle. A docile horse, a docile crowd, docile pupils.
Applied to animals it is straightforwardly useful and often a selling point. Applied to people it is almost always critical: docile means compliant to the point of having no will of its own, and a docile workforce is a phrase used by people complaining about one. That difference in tone is the thing to carry. Compare obedient, which is neutral, meek, which is about spirit, and tame, which is what docile means for an animal and an insult for a person.
1adjectivedocileQuiet and easy to control or handle.
“The pony is docile enough for a small child.”
2adjectiveobedientOf people, obedient to the point of having no will of their own.
“The scheme depends on a docile electorate.”
docile is a quality of obedience.
Also accepted in games: tame
Latin docilis meant teachable, from docere, to teach — the same verb behind doctor, document and doctrine. A docile creature was originally one that could be taught, and English narrowed it to one that will do as it is told.
Proto-Indo-European
*deḱ-
Latin
docilis
Middle French
docile
Middle English
docyle
English, today
docile
Built from
From Middle English docyle, from Middle French docile, from Latin docilis. From Middle English docyle, from Middle French docile, from Latin docilis, from docēre (“teach”). Compare Portuguese dócil ("docile").
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA