analphabetic

[ an-al-fuh-bet-ik, an-al- ]

adjective

1. not alphabetic:

   an analphabetic arrangement of letters.

2. unable to read or write; illiterate:

   analphabetic peoples.

3. Phonetics. of or constituting a system of phonetic transcription, as the one devised by Otto Jespersen, that for each sound indicates by separate sets of symbols the articulator, the point of articulation, and the size and shape of the mouth opening.

noun

1. an illiterate person; analphabet.

analphabetic

/ ænˌæl-; ˌænælfəˈbɛtɪk /

adjective

1. not in alphabetical order

noun

1. a less common word for illiterate

Derived Forms

• ˌanalphaˈbetically, adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of analphabetic¹

1660–70; < Greek analphábēt ( os ) not knowing the alphabet ( an- an- ¹ + alphábēt ( os ) alphabet + -os adj. suffix) + -ic

Word History and Origins

Origin of analphabetic¹

C20: from Greek analphabētos; see an- , alphabet

Example Sentences

The dark strings and sinister laughing that open the song augur ill for Europe if its leaders remain rigid in their approach to the crisis: “Eurosceptic, analphabetic/ Try not to be hermetic.”

From Time

So not a few of the Amirs of Sind were analphabetic and seemed rather proud of it: "a Baloch cannot write, but he always carries a signet-ring."

From Project Gutenberg