intelligible

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English intelligible,^[2][3] borrowed from Latin intellegibilis, also intelligibilis,^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} formed from intellegō (“to understand”) and -ibilis.^[8][3][9] The revised OED allows either the Latin word or Middle French intelligible,^[8] and the American Heritage Dictionary gives an Old French step.^[10] The word is recorded in Old French from about 1265, in the sense "apprehended only by the intellect".^[8] In Latin it meant "capable of appreciation by the mind", and then, in the Vetus Latina and the Vulgate, also "intelligent, understanding", and in the 4th century "perceptible by the intellect alone".^[8] The OED compares Catalan intel·ligible, Spanish inteligible, Portuguese inteligível and Italian inteligibile.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Able to understand, intelligent: before 1382, in the early version of the Wycliffite Bible, where Wisdom 7:23 has "alle intelligible spiritis" for Latin omnes spiritus intelligibilis.^[2][8]

Semantic evolution

The active sense "able to understand" died out, the last record being from 1777.^[8][4] Before 1398 Trevisa was already using the word in the philosophical sense "grasped by the intellect and not by the senses",^[2][8] the counterpart of sensible.^[8][4] The modern passive sense, "able to be understood", appears in Hawes's Pastime of Pleasure in 1509,^[8] earlier than Etymonline's date of about 1600.^[7] Johnson (1755) gave only this passive meaning: to be conceived by the understanding.^[11] The noun, an object of the intellect, is from 1597, in Lowe's Whole Course of Chirurgerie,^[8][3] and the OED compares the Latin plural intellegibilia of the 4th or 5th century.^[8]

Timeline

• before 1382 – able to understand, intelligent (obsolete by 1777).^[8][2]
• before 1398 – in philosophy, apprehended only by the intellect.^[8][2]
• 1509 – able to be understood, comprehensible.^[8]
• 1597 – noun, an object of the intellect.^[8][3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Able to be understood; comprehensible: The instructions were perfectly intelligible to a beginner.^[6][3][8]
2. (philosophy) Able to be apprehended by the intellect alone, not by the senses; conceptual.^[6][3][8]
3. (philosophy) Of the realm beyond perception, as in the systems of Plato or Kant.^[6][3]
4. (obsolete, before 1382–1777) Able to understand; intelligent.^[8][3][4]

Noun

1. An object of the intellect or understanding.^[3][8][4]

Word family

• intelligibility
• intelligibly
• intelligibleness
• unintelligible

Related words

• intelligent
• intellect
• intelligence

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.