illegible

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ɪˈlɛdʒəbəl/ UK /ɪˈlɛdʒəbəl/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

adj
not clear enough to be read

The doctor's illegible handwriting baffled the pharmacist.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · not clear enough to be read unreadable indecipherable unintelligiblescrawledobscure

Opposites

legible readable cleardecipherable

Word family

Forms illegibly

Derived forms illegiblyillegibility

Related forms legiblelegibility

Etymology

From Late Latin illegibilis, from in- ('not') + legibilis ('readable'), from legere ('to read, gather').

legere Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# illegible

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ɪˈlɛdʒəbəl/
**IPA (UK):** /ɪˈlɛdʒəbəl/

## Meanings
1. not clear enough to be read

## Examples
- The doctor's illegible handwriting baffled the pharmacist.

## Synonyms
- unreadable
- indecipherable
- unintelligible
- scrawled
- obscure

## Antonyms
- legible
- readable
- clear
- decipherable

## Derived Forms
- illegibly
- illegibility

## Related Forms
- legible
- legibility

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: legere
- Affix: il- - not

## Etymology
From Late Latin illegibilis, from in- ('not') + legibilis ('readable'), from legere ('to read, gather').

## AI Etymology
illegible comes from Late Latin illegibilis, from in- ('not') + legibilis ('readable'), from legere ('to read, gather'). Morphologically, the prefixed shape matters: the initial element belongs to the recorded formation and helps explain the modern form's surface analysis. In present English, the adjective sense is "not clear enough to be read", so the historical development ends in a clearly identifiable modern dictionary use. The same base also appears in related forms such as legible and legibility, and in derivatives such as illegibly and illegibility. Its semantic neighborhood includes unreadable, indecipherable, unintelligible, and scrawled, which helps locate the modern sense without adding a separate etymological claim. The named historical forms include Latin legere.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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