得る

Possible
ます stem + える/うる

得る (える or うる) is an old Japanese verb form/word meaning “possible”.
It may be pronounced either える or うる in the affirmative.
In the negative, it will always be えない
This pattern has been touched on on other pages, such as Special Potential Verbs and ざるを得ない

Generally speaking, this pattern is old and literary, and is not likely to be spoken in daily Japanese, with the exception of ありえる and ありえない.

える/うる also tend to be used with certain specific words most of the time.

Common Pairs

• 起こりうる – Occur-able
• 知りえる – Knowable
• 考えうる (Must be うる) – Thinkable 
• 分かりうる – Understandable
• やりうる – Doable
• ありえる – Possible

Examples

• 考えうる最悪の事態に備える – Prepare for the worst case thinkable
• いつでも地震は起こりうる – An earthquake could occur at anytime.
• あらかじめ知り得ないことだった – Unknowable beforehand.
• それはありうる – That’s possible.
• 彼女が僕を裏切たことはありえない – Its not possible that she’s betrayed me.