George WillTom Verducci
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Before expectations about the origins of fungible mushroom into mycological fantasy: no, fungible has no relation to the noun fungus and its plural fungi. The fungi in fungible is there because of the Latin verb fungi, meaning “to perform,” ancestor of both fungible and function. Fungible is considerably less familiar than its cousin to most English users, but it pops up like toadstools (sorry) in legal, technological, and economic contexts. Something described as fungible can be exchanged for something else of the same kind. For example, when we say “oil is a fungible commodity,” we mean that when a purchaser is expecting a delivery of oil, any oil of the stipulated quantity and quality will usually do. Another example of something fungible is cash. It doesn't matter what twenty dollar bill you get—it’s still worth the same amount as any other twenty dollar bill. In contrast, something like a work of art (or an NFT, aka a “non-fungible token”) isn’t fungible; a purchaser would expect a specific, identifiable item to be delivered. In broader use, fungible can mean “interchangeable,” or sometimes “readily changeable to adapt to new situations.”
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Examples of fungible in a Sentence
John Hollinger, The Athletic, 12 Feb. 2025
Money is fungible so that the increase for food stamps could allow recipients to divert free cash to other ventures, far outside the program—vacations, sporting events, or anything.
—Shane Croucher, Newsweek, 29 Jan. 2025
Wine isn’t fungible, or interchangeable, in the same way that steel, or commodities like wheat or milk might be, Skurnik explains.
—Anna Lee C. Iijima, Bon Appétit, 21 Jan. 2025
For the leaders of today’s cultural industries, films, TV series, albums, even books seem to be no more than widgets on an algorithmic assembly line, as fungible as yards of textile or gauges of steel.
—Matt Brennan, Los Angeles Times, 19 Jan. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Fungible.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fungible. Accessed 21 Feb. 2025.
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