unknowable

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   impossible to know, discover, or determine

   The exact number of lost manuscripts is probably unknowable.

2. 2
   noun

   a fact, thing, or question that cannot be known

   What lies beyond the observable universe remains one of science's unknowables.

Formed from un- ("not") + knowable. Knowable combines know with -able; know is inherited from Old English cnawan ("recognize, know"), from a Germanic verb ultimately related to the Indo-European root also seen in Greek gnosis and Latin cognoscere. Philosophical writing often applies unknowable to realities beyond possible experience.

Topics