incomprehensible

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin incomprehēnsibilis (“that cannot be seized or grasped”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} formed from in- (“not”) and comprehēnsibilis (“comprehensible”),^[2][4][6] from comprehendō (“to seize, grasp; to understand”), from com- and prehendō (“to seize”).^[6] Etymonline and the MED allow Old French incomprehensible as a second source;^[6][7] the OED cites Littré for the French word in the 13th–14th century.^[2] The ODE notes that the English word is older than comprehensible.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

That cannot be contained within limits, boundless, chiefly of God, and that cannot be grasped by the mind: both before 1340, in Rolle's Psalter.^[2] Etymonline dates both senses to the mid-14th century,^[6] and the MED's first quotation, from the early Wycliffite Bible (before 1382), calls God "incomprehensible in thenking".^[7]

Semantic evolution

The first senses were theological: "boundless, infinite" and "beyond the reach of the understanding".^[2][6][9] Weekley points to the literal sense in the Athanasian Creed,^[10] and the OED marks "boundless" as archaic.^[2] The weaker sense "that cannot be understood, unintelligible" is recorded from 1604, in Cawdrey's Table Alphabeticall,^[2] and Hoad dates it to the 17th century.^[9] A rare physical sense, "that cannot be grasped or caught", lasted from 1607 to 1745,^[2] and the noun, an incomprehensible thing or being, is recorded from 1678, in Cudworth.^[2] Johnson (1755) defined it as "not to be conceived; not to be fully understood".^[11]

Timeline

• before 1340 – boundless, infinite; beyond the reach of the understanding, in Rolle's Psalter.^[2]
• 1604 – in a weaker sense, unintelligible, in Cawdrey's Table Alphabeticall.^[2]
• 1607 – that cannot be physically grasped (obsolete by 1745).^[2]
• 1678 – noun, an incomprehensible thing or being, in Cudworth.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Impossible to understand; unintelligible: Without the diagrams the instructions were incomprehensible.^[12][3][2]
2. Beyond the reach of the human mind; unfathomable.^[3][2]
3. (archaic) Having no limits; boundless, especially of God.^[12][3][2]

Noun

1. Something incomprehensible.^[3][2]

Word family

• incomprehensibility
• incomprehensibly
• incomprehensibleness

Related words

• incomprehension
• comprehend
• comprehensible

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins