Ineffable

WORD OF THE DAY

Ineffable / adjective / in-EFF-uh-bul

Definition

1a: incapable of being expressed in words 

1b: indescribable

1c: inexpressibly bad 

1d: unspeakable 

2a: not to be uttered 

2b: taboo

Examples

"Undaunted, in 'Why You Like It' Nolan Gasser attempts to explain the ineffable ways music produces sensations in listeners' brains: its power to move people to tears, evoke awe and induce involuntary toe-tapping." 

— The Economist, 27 Apr. 2019

"Such haziness was inevitable, because the questions Buber was trying to answer were the most ineffable ones of human life: What is the meaning of our existence? How can we achieve the feeling of wholeness that we so painfully lack?" 

—Adam Kirsch, The New Yorker, 29 Apr. 2019

Did You Know?

"Every tone was a testimony against slavery, and a prayer to God for deliverance from chains. 

The hearing of those wild notes always depressed my spirit, and filled me with ineffable sadness," wrote Frederick Douglass in his autobiography. 

Reading Douglass's words, it's easy to see that ineffable means "indescribable" or "unspeakable." When we break down the word to its Latin roots, it's easy to see how those meanings came about. Ineffable comes from ineffābilis, which joins the prefix in-, meaning "not," with the adjective effābilis, meaning "capable of being expressed." 

Effābiliscomes from effārī("to speak out"), which in turn comes from ex- and fārī ("to speak").