inarticulable

English

Etymology

First attested in 1825: formed as in- +‎ articulable; compare inarticulate and the slightly earlier (1824) French inarticulable.

Adjective

inarticulable (not comparable)

1. Not articulable; incapable of being articulated.
   • 1825, James Silk Buckingham, editor, The Oriental Herald and Journal of General Literature, volume 6, page 103:

     I add two letters to this class, under the title of anomalous, which are the Arabic qaf (incorrectly written g, in the Plate, instead of q,) and the Hebrew, or Arabic ain, which some suppose to be inarticulable by a European voice.

Derived terms

• inarticulability

French

Adjective

inarticulable (plural inarticulables)

1. inarticulable

Further reading

• “inarticulable”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.