analphabetic

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English

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Etymology

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From an- +‎ alphabetic.

Adjective

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analphabetic (comparative more analphabetic, superlative most analphabetic)

  1. (not comparable) (of symbols) Not alphabetic.
    Hypernym: alphanumeric
    Hyponyms: logographic; numeric
  2. (comparable) (of a person) Illiterate, unable to read or write.
    • 1935, George Orwell, chapter 19, in Burmese Days[1]:
      His system of exchange was that for any book in his bundle you gave him four annas, and any other book. Not quite any book, however, for the book-wallah, though analphabetic, had learned to recognize and refuse a Bible.

Noun

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analphabetic (plural analphabetics)

  1. An illiterate person.
    • 1979, Nadine Gordimer, Burger's Daughter, Penguin, published 1980, page 267:
      At press conferences you hear a visiting statesman so eloquent in his own language—and then suddenly he tries a few words in French...an idiot speaking, an analphabetic from some wretched forgotten hamlet learning to read at the age of seventy.—