unspeakable

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English unspekable, also unspekeable and unspecable,^[2][3] formed from Middle English un- + speken (“to speak”) + -able.^[3][4][2] Etymonline, the Shorter Oxford and Dictionary.com analyse it as un- and speakable,^[5][6][7] and the Middle English Dictionary takes the sense "too horrible to be mentioned" from the adjective spekable.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

That cannot be put into words; inexpressible, ineffable: about 1400, of joy and sweetness in a devotional prose text,^[2][5] and before 1400 in the works of Hampole.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the word belonged mainly to devotional writing, describing the ineffable mercy, charity and glory of God, and the joy of the saints;^[2] Weekley points to its use in the First Epistle of Peter (1:8).^[8] The Middle English Dictionary also records the sense "too horrible to be mentioned",^[2] and Etymonline dates "indescribably bad or wicked" to the mid 15th century,^[5] but the OED's first example of the sense is from 1831, in Carlyle,^[4] and Hoad dates it to the 19th century.^[9] Weekley notes that the word was by then usually disparaging, citing the unspeakable Turk (Carlyle, 1876).^[8] The sense "that may not be spoken or uttered" is recorded from 1568, the adverbial use "unspeakably" from 1635, and the noun, an ineffable being, from 1843, again in Carlyle.^[4] Johnson (1755) defined it simply as "not to be expressed".^[10]

Timeline

• c. 1400 – inexpressible, beyond description.^[2][5][4]
• 1568 – that may not be spoken or uttered.^[4]
• 1635 – as an adverb, unspeakably.^[4]
• 1831 – indescribably bad or objectionable.^[4] Etymonline dates this sense to the mid 15th century.^[5]
• 1843 – noun, an ineffable being.^[4]
• 1888 – in the United States, unwilling or unable to speak.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Too bad, wicked or objectionable to describe: The prisoners were kept in unspeakable conditions.^[11][3][4]
2. That cannot be expressed in words; inexpressible, ineffable: She felt an unspeakable relief.^{[11][3][4][6]}
3. That must not or cannot be spoken aloud: an unspeakable secret.^[11][4]

Word family

• unspeakableness
• unspeakably

Related words

• speak
• speakable

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
9. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins