affordance
noun
af·for·dance ə-ˈfȯr-dᵊn(t)s 
plural affordances
: the quality or property of an object that defines its possible uses or makes clear how it can or should be used
We sit or stand on a chair because those affordances are fairly obvious.
Scott Lafee
Scott LafeeAn affordance is a resource or support that the environment offers an animal; the animal in turn must possess the capabilities to perceive it and to use it. Eleanor J. Gibson et al.
Eleanor J. Gibson et al.
Word History
Etymology
afford + -ance
Note: As a term in the study of cognition introduced by the American psychologist James J. Gibson (1904-79) in The Senses Considered as Perceptual Systems (Boston, 1966) and later essays.
First Known Use
1966, in the meaning defined above
- double-coursed
- double-cover
- double-crested cormorant
- double-crop
- double-cropped
- double-cropping
- double-crops
- double-cross
- double-crossed
- double-crosser
- double-crossers
- double-crosses
- double-crossing
- Double-Crostic
- double-current signaling
- double-cut file
- double-cut saw
- double-date
- double-dealer
- double-dealers
- double-dealing
- double-deck
- double-decked
- double-decker
- double-digit