inscrutable

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   Impossible to understand or read; mysterious.

   He gave an inscrutable smile, and no one could tell what he was thinking.

Simplified etymology

Inscrutable comes from ecclesiastical Latin inscrutabilis, formed from in-, meaning “not,” and scrutari, “to search.” The verb scrutari is also found in the history of scrutiny.

Borrowed into late Middle English from Late Latin īnscrūtābilis, from in- (“not”) + scrūtō (“to examine”), corresponding to in- + scrutable

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External links

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• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary