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English
Etymology
Recorded in English since 1556, from Latin illitteratus (“unlearned, ignorant”), itself from in- (“un-”) + litteratus (“furnished with letters”) (from littera (“letter, character”)).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ɪˈlɪtəɹət/, /ɪˈlɪtɹət/
Adjective
illiterate (comparative more illiterate, superlative most illiterate)
- Unable to read and write.
1647, Theodore de la Guard [pseudonym; Nathaniel Ward], The Simple Cobler of Aggawam in America. , London: J D & R I for Stephen Bowtell, , →OCLC, page 37:If publique Aſſemblies of Divines cannot agree upon a right vvay, private Conventicles of illeterate men, vvill ſoon finde a vvrong. Bivious demurres breed devious reſolutions. Paſſengers to heaven are in haſte, and vvill vvalk one vvay or other.
About half of the population in Ethiopia is illiterate.
- Having less than an expected standard of familiarity with language and literature, or having little formal education.
1722, William Wollaston, “Sect. V. Truths relating to the Deity. Of his exiſtence, perfection, providence, &c.”, in The Religion of Nature Delineated, page 81:Ignorant and ſuperſtitious wretches meaſure the actions of letterd and philoſophical men by the tattle of their nurſes or illiterate parents and companions, or by the faſhion of the country : and people of differing religions judge and condemn each other by their own tenents ; when both of them cannot be in the right, and it is well if either of them are.
- Not conforming to prescribed standards of speech or writing.
1908, “lay v.¹”, in James A. H. Murray et al., editors, A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), volume VI, Part 1, London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 128:Now (exc. in Nautical language, see b) it is only dialectal or an illiterate substitute for lie, its identity of form with the past tense of the latter no doubt accounting largely for the confusion.
- Ignorant in a specified way or about a specified subject.
- economically illiterate, emotionally illiterate
Synonyms
Antonyms
Derived terms
Translations
unable to read and write
- Arabic: أُمِّيّ (ʔummiyy)
- Armenian: անգրագետ (hy) (angraget)
- Azerbaijani: savadsız
- Bashkir: наҙан (naźan)
- Belarusian: няпісьме́нны (njapisʹmjénny), нягра́матны (njahrámatny), неадукава́ны (njeadukavány)
- Bulgarian: негра́мотен (bg) (negrámoten), необразо́ван (bg) (neobrazóvan)
- Catalan: illetrat (ca), analfabet (ca)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 文盲 (zh) (wénmáng)
- Czech: negramotný (cs) m, nevzdělaný
- Danish: analfabetisk
- Dutch: ongeletterd (nl), analfabeet (nl)
- Esperanto: analfabeta (eo)
- Finnish: lukutaidoton (fi)
- French: illettré (fr) m, illettrée (fr) f, analphabète (fr) m or f
- Georgian: წერა-კითხვის უცოდინარი (c̣era-ḳitxvis ucodinari)
- German: analphabetisch (de)
- Greek: αγράμματος (el) (agrámmatos)
- Ancient Greek: ἀγράμματος (agrámmatos)
- Hebrew: אַנְאַלְפָבֵּית (he) m (analfabét), אֵינוֹ יוֹדֵעַ צוּרַת א' (he) m (einó yodéa' tzurát álef) (literary)
- Hindi: अशिक्षित (hi) (aśikṣit), अनपढ़ (hi) (anpaṛh)
- Hungarian: analfabéta (hu), írástudatlan (hu)
- Indonesian: buta huruf (id), tunaaksara (id)
- Irish: neamhliteartha
- Italian: analfabeta (it)
- Japanese: 文盲の (ja) (もんもうの, monmou no), 読み書きができない (よみかきができない, yomikaki ga dekinai)
- Korean: 글을 모르다 (geureul moreuda), 문맹의 (ko) (munmaeng'ui)
- Kurdish:
- Central Kurdish: نەخوێندەوار (ckb) (nexwêndewar)
- Northern Kurdish: nexwendewar (ku), nexwenda (ku)
- Macedonian: неписмен (nepismen)
- Malay: tunaaksara, buta huruf
- Maori: kū(w)are-ā-tuhi
- Old English: unstæfwīs
- Persian: بیسواد (bi-savâd)
- Polish: niepiśmienny (pl) m, niegramotny (pl) (colloquial)
- Portuguese: analfabeto (pt), iletrado (pt)
- Romanian: analfabet (ro)
- Russian: негра́мотный (ru) (negrámotnyj), необразо́ванный (ru) (neobrazóvannyj)
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: нѐписмен
- Roman: nèpismen (sh)
- Slovak: negramotný, nevzdelaný
- Slovene: nepismen
- Spanish: analfabeto (es), iletrado (es), ágrafo (es)
- Swedish: icke läskunnig (sv), analfabetisk (sv)
- Tagalog: dinulat, maang
- Ukrainian: негра́мотний (nehrámotnyj), неписьме́нний (nepysʹménnyj), неосві́чений (neosvíčenyj), неодуко́ваний (neodukóvanyj)
- Vietnamese: dốt nát (vi), mù chữ (vi), thất học (vi)
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having less than an expected standard of familiarity with language and literature
- Armenian: անգրագետ (hy) (angraget)
- Bashkir: наҙан (naźan)
- Bulgarian: необразо́ван (bg) (neobrazóvan)
- Finnish: sivistymätön (fi), kouluja käymätön
- French: analphabète (fr)
- German: ungebildet (de), ungelehrt
- Greek: αναλφάβητος (el) (analfávitos)
- Hungarian: műveletlen (hu), tanulatlan (hu)
- Irish: ainléannta
- Italian: illetterato (it)
- Japanese: 無学の (むがくの, mugaku no)
- Malayalam: പഠിപ്പില്ലാത്ത (paṭhippillātta), നിരക്ഷരനായ m (nirakṣaranāya)
- Old English: unstæfwīs, unġelǣred
- Polish: analfabeta (pl) m, analfabetka (pl) f
- Portuguese: iletrado (pt)
- Russian: безгра́мотный (ru) (bezgrámotnyj), необразо́ванный (ru) (neobrazóvannyj), неве́жественный (ru) (nevéžestvennyj)
- Swedish: obildad (sv), illitterat (sv)
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Translations to be checked
See also
Noun
illiterate (plural illiterates)
- An illiterate person, one either not able to read and write or not knowing how.
- A person ignorant about a given subject.
- The government is run by business illiterates.
Synonyms
Translations
an illiterate person
- Armenian: անգրագետ (hy) (angraget)
- Bulgarian: неграмотен (bg) m (negramoten)
- Catalan: analfabet (ca) m
- Chinese:
- Cantonese: 文盲 (man4 maang4)
- Eastern Min: 青盲牛 (chăng-màng-ngù)
- Hakka: 文盲 (vùn-mòng)
- Hokkien: 青盲牛 (zh-min-nan) (chhiⁿ-mî-gû; chheⁿ-mê-gû)
- Mandarin: 文盲 (zh) (wénmáng)
- Wu: 亮眼瞎子 (6lian-nge-haq-tsy)
- Danish: analfabet (da) c
- Dutch: ongeletterde (nl) m, analfabeet (nl) m
- Esperanto: analfabeto (eo)
- Finnish: lukutaidoton (fi)
- French: illettré (fr) m, illettrée (fr) f, analphabète (fr) m or f
- German: Analphabet (de) m, Analphabetin (de) f
- Greek: αναλφάβητος (el) m (analfávitos)
- Hungarian: analfabéta (hu)
- Italian: analfabeta (it) m or f by sense
- Japanese: 文盲 (ja) (もんもう, monmō), 非識字者 (hishikijisha)
- Korean: 문맹 (ko) (munmaeng)
- Kurdish:
- Central Kurdish: نەخوێندەوار (ckb) (nexwêndewar)
- Malayalam: നിരക്ഷരൻ (nirakṣaraṉ)
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: analfabet (no) m
- Nynorsk: analfabet m
- Persian: بیسواد (bi-savâd)
- Polish: analfabeta (pl) m, analfabetka (pl) f
- Portuguese: analfabeto (pt) m, analfabeta (pt) f
- Romanian: analfabet (ro) m, analfabetă (ro) f
- Russian: негра́мотный (ru) m (negrámotnyj)
- Spanish: analfabeto (es) m, analfabeta (es) f, iletrado (es) m, iletrada (es) f
- Swedish: analfabet (sv) c
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See also
References