legible

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English legible, also legeble and legibille,^[2][3] borrowed from Late Latin legibilis (“that can be read”),^{[4][5][3][6][7]} recorded from the 2nd century AD,^[8] from Latin legō (“to read”) and the suffix -bilis.^[8][3] Merriam-Webster's “Book of Word Histories” explains that the Latin verb first meant "to gather, collect", then figuratively "to gather with the eye, see", and then "to read".^[9] Etymonline traces it to Proto-Indo-European *leg- (“to collect, gather”).^[4] Skeat alone passes it through Old French legible.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of handwriting or print, clear enough to read: 1407, in a document printed in W. Fraser's Memorials of Montgomeries.^[8] Other dates differ: Etymonline has the late 14th century,^[4] Merriam-Webster Unabridged the 14th century,^[3] and Barnhart probably before 1440.^[11] The Middle English Dictionary's first dated example is from 1445–6, "of large and legible hand".^[2]

Semantic evolution

Middle English could already apply it to a book in the sense "available for reading",^[2] and the OED records this use of written works from 1558, later shifting to "comprehensible" or "enjoyable to read".^[8] The figurative sense, something that can be read from outward signs, follows in 1593.^[8] Johnson (1755) quotes Collier for it: "People's opinions of themselves are legible in their countenances".^[12] A noun, the legible, is recorded from 1810.^[8] In Banffshire dialect a "legible bargain" was a fair and equitable one.^[13]

Timeline

• 1407 – of handwriting or print, clear enough to read.^[8]
• 1558 – of a text, available for reading; later comprehensible or enjoyable to read.^[8]
• 1593 – readily understood or discerned.^[8]
• 1810 – noun, the legible, that which is legible.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of writing or print, clear enough to be read; decipherable: The faded inscription is still legible.^[5][3][14]
2. Able to be discovered or understood from outward signs; discernible: Fear was legible in his face.^[5][3][14]
3. (rare) Of a written work, easy or enjoyable to read.^[8][15]

Word family

• legibility
• legibly
• legibleness

Related words

• intelligible
• illegible
• legend
• lecture
• lection

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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 Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Merriam-Webster's Book of Word Histories, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
13. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
14. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
15. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press