Etymologically
Log in

illiterate

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 31 October 2026 at 22:56. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • /ɪˈlɪtəɹət/, /ɪˈlɪtɹət/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin illitterātus (“unlettered, unlearned”), also spelled illīterātus,[2][3][4][5][6] from in- (“not”), assimilated before l,[5][3][7] and litterātus (“furnished with letters, learned”),[2][3][5] which is the source of literate and comes from littera (“letter of the alphabet”).[5] In Latin it also meant ignorant, uncultured and inelegant.[5] Old English had used unstæfwis as a loan-translation of the Latin word.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Uneducated, unable to read and write: probably before 1425, in a translation of Higden's Polychronicon, according to Barnhart.[3] Etymonline also dates it to the early 15th century, when it meant in particular unable to read Latin,[5] but the OED's first record is from 1556.[2]

Semantic evolution

Dated quotations in the OED begin in 1556, of people ignorant of letters or without book-learning; from 1598 it was also said of things showing such ignorance, such as a style.[2] Milton in 1645 used it in the literal Latin sense "unwritten, not expressed in words", which stayed rare.[2] The noun, an illiterate person, appeared in 1628, in George Wither.[2][3] Johnson (1755) defined the adjective as "unlettered; untaught; unlearned".[8] With the spread of census returns and ballots the word came to mean specifically unable to read,[2] and today it is also used of a lack of knowledge in one field, as in computer illiterate.[9] Horace Walpole coined the jocular plural illiterati in 1788,[5] and illiteracy dates from 1660.[3]

Timeline

  • before 1425 – unlearned, unable to read, in a translation of Higden's Polychronicon.[3]
  • 1556 – of persons, unlettered, without book-learning.[2]
  • 1598 – of things, showing ignorance or lack of learning.[2]
  • 1628 – noun, an illiterate person.[2][3]
  • 1645 – unwritten, not expressed in words (rare).[2]
  • 1660 – illiteracy.[3]
  • 1788 – illiterati.[5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Unable to read and write: Much of the village was still illiterate in 1900.[9][10][2]
  2. Having little education; ignorant or uncultured, also in a particular field: She was musically illiterate but loved the opera.[9][10]
  3. Showing a poor command of the accepted usage of reading and writing: an illiterate letter.[9][10]

Noun

  1. A person who cannot read or write, or who is uneducated.[9][10][2]

Word family

  • illiterately
  • illiterateness
  • illiteracy

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  8. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  9. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  10. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster