incomprehensible

See also: incompréhensible

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *né

Proto-Indo-European *n̥-

Proto-Italic *n̥-

Latin in-

Proto-Indo-European *ḱe?

Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm

Proto-Italic *kom

Proto-Italic *kom-

Latin con-

Proto-Indo-European *per-

Proto-Indo-European *preh₂-

Proto-Indo-European *-i

Proto-Indo-European *préh₂i?

Proto-Italic *prai

Proto-Italic *prai-

Proto-Indo-European *gʰed-

Proto-Indo-European *-né-

Proto-Indo-European *-ti

Proto-Indo-European *gʰnédti

Proto-Italic *hendō

Proto-Italic *praiɣendō

Latin prehendō

Latin comprehendō

Proto-Indo-European *-dʰlom

Proto-Italic *-ðlom

Proto-Italic *-ðlis

Latin -bilis

Latin comprehēnsibilis

Latin incomprehēnsibilislbor.

Middle French incomprehensibleder.

English incomprehensible

From Middle French incomprehensible, from Latin incomprehēnsibilis. Equivalent to in- +‎ comprehensible.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (UK) /ɪnˌkɒmpɹɪˈhɛnsɪb(ə)l/, (UK) /ɪŋˌkɒmpɹɪˈhɛnsɪb(ə)l/
• IPA^(key): (US) /ɪnˌkɑmpɹəˈhɛnsɪb(ə)l/, (US) /ɪŋˌkɑmpɹəˈhɛnsɪb(ə)l/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Adjective

incomprehensible (comparative more incomprehensible, superlative most incomprehensible)

1. Impossible or very difficult to understand.
   • 1904-09, Mark Twain, Letters from the Earth, published 1962

     But this inference, which is supported by the opening of Book I, renders incomprehensible the note "and I have finished writing this," which is included within the dream.

   • 1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 196:

     In the empty immensity of earth, sky, and water, there she was, incomprehensible, firing into a continent.

   • 1990, Greg Bear, Heads:

     He shook his head. 'It's not only undefined, it's incomprehensible. Even the QL is befuddled by it and can't give me straight answers.'

   • 2024 November 9, Nick Paton Walsh, “Trump’s second term could bring chaos around the world. Will it work?”, in CNN‎^[1], archived from the original on 26 December 2024:

     Trump’s grotesque and incomprehensible fondness for Putin makes the details of any deal highly dangerous for Europe and the NATO alliance, founded to confront Russia.

2. (theology or literary) Which cannot be contained; boundless, infinite.
   • 1969, “The Divine Liturgy of John Chrysostom: Liturgy of Offering”, in Joseph Raya, transl., edited by José de Vinck, Byzantine Daily Worship‎^[2], Alleluia Press, page 282:

     Prayer to God the Father: It is fitting and right to sing to You, to bless You, to praise You, to give thanks to You, to worship You in every place of your dominion: for You are God, beyond description, beyond understanding, invisible, incomprehensible, always existing, always the same; You and your only-begotten Son and your Holy Spirit

Synonyms

• fathomless, unfathomable, unintelligible; See also Thesaurus:incomprehensible

Antonyms

• comprehensible, understandable; See also Thesaurus:comprehensible

Derived terms

• incomprehensibleness
• incomprehensibly

Related terms

• incomprehension

Translations

impossible or very difficult to understand

• Albanian: pakuptueshëm (sq)
• Armenian: անհասկանալի (hy) (anhaskanali)
• Azerbaijani: anlaşılmaz
• Belarusian: незразуме́лы (njezrazumjély)
• Bulgarian: неразбираем (bg) (nerazbiraem), непонятен (bg) (neponjaten)
• Catalan: incomprensible
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 難以理解的 / 难以理解的 (nányǐ lǐjiě de), 費解的 / 费解的 (zh) (fèijiě de)

• Czech: nesrozumitelný (cs)
• Danish: uforståelig, ubegribelig
• Dutch: onbegrijpelijk (nl)
• Finnish: käsittämätön (fi), ei ymmärrettävä, siansaksa (fi), heprea (fi)
• French: incompréhensible (fr)
• Galician: incomprensible (gl)
• Georgian: გაუგებარი (gaugebari), გონებისთვის მიუწვდომელი (gonebistvis miuc̣vdomeli)
• German: unverständlich (de), unbegreiflich (de), unfassbar (de)
• Greek: ακατανόητος (el) (akatanóitos), ακαταλαβίστικος (el) (akatalavístikos)

  Ancient Greek: ἀκατάληπτος (akatálēptos)

• Hindi: कल्पनातीत (hi) (kalpanātīt), अकल्पनीय (hi) (akalpanīya)
• Hungarian: érthetetlen (hu), megfoghatatlan (hu), felfoghatatlan (hu)
• Indonesian: yg tdk dpt dimengerti, tdk terpahamkan
• Italian: incomprensibile (it)
• Japanese: 不可解な (ja) (fukakai na), 理解できない (ja) (rikai dekinai)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: ubegripelig (no), ubefattelig

  Nynorsk: ubegripeleg

• Occitan: incompreensible (oc)
• Plautdietsch: onbejrieplich
• Polish: niezrozumiały (pl)
• Portuguese: incompreensível (pt)
• Russian: непоня́тный (ru) (neponjátnyj), непостижи́мый (ru) (nepostižímyj), невразуми́тельный (ru) (nevrazumítelʹnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: do-thuigsinneach
• Spanish: incomprensible (es), incomprehensible (es)
• Swedish: obegriplig (sv), ofattbar (sv)
• Tagalog: di-matingkala
• Turkish: anlaşılmaz (tr)
• Ukrainian: незрозумі́лий (nezrozumílyj)

Noun

incomprehensible (plural incomprehensibles)

1. Anything that is beyond understanding.

Translations

anything that is beyond understanding

• Ukrainian: незрозумі́лий (nezrozumílyj)

Further reading

• “incomprehensible”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “incomprehensible”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Middle French

Etymology

First known attestation 1314, borrowed from Latin incomprehēnsibilis.

Adjective

incomprehensible m or f (plural incomprehensibles)

1. incomprehensible

Descendants

• → English: incomprehensible

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /inkompɾeenˈsible/ [ĩŋ.kõm.pɾe.ẽnˈsi.β̞le]
• Rhymes: -ible
• Syllabification: in‧com‧pre‧hen‧si‧ble

Adjective

incomprehensible m or f (masculine and feminine plural incomprehensibles)

1. alternative form of incomprensible

Further reading

• “incomprehensible”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025