Meanings
comparative more illegible · superlative most illegible
- Not clear enough to be read; unreadable; not legible or decipherable.
illegible symbols
3 more examples
illegible handwriting
illegible scribbles
illegible writing
Synonyms: dirty, foul, indecipherable, marked-up, unclear, undecipherable, unreadable · Antonyms: legible
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveNot clear enough to be read; unreadable; not legible or decipherable.
More synonyms by meaning
adjective(of handwriting, print, etc.) not legible
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*né
- Proto-Indo-European*n̥-
- Proto-Italic*n̥-
- Latinin-
- Middle Englishin-
- Englishil-
- Englishlegible
- Englishillegible
Translations
Bulgarian нечетлив
- нечетлив (nečetliv)not clear enough to be read
Catalan illegible, il·legible
- illegiblenot clear enough to be read
- il·legiblenot clear enough to be read
Chinese Mandarin 難以辨認的 /难以辨认的, 很難看懂的 /很难看懂的
- 難以辨認的 /难以辨认的 (nányǐ biànrèn de)not clear enough to be read
- 很難看懂的 /很难看懂的 (hěn nán kàndǒng de)not clear enough to be read
Czech nečitelný
- nečitelnýnot clear enough to be read
Dutch onleesbaar
- onleesbaarnot clear enough to be read
Esperanto nelegebla
- nelegeblanot clear enough to be read
Finnish lukukelvoton
- lukukelvotonnot clear enough to be read
French illisible, indéchiffrable
- illisiblenot clear enough to be read
- indéchiffrablenot clear enough to be read
- illégiblenot clear enough to be read
German unleserlich
- unleserlichnot clear enough to be read
Hungarian olvashatatlan
- olvashatatlannot clear enough to be read
Icelandic ólæsilegur
- ólæsilegurnot clear enough to be read
Italian illeggibile
- illeggibilenot clear enough to be read
Japanese 読めない, 汚い
- 読めない (yomenai)not clear enough to be read
- 汚い (kitanai)not clear enough to be read
Polish nieczytelny
- nieczytelnynot clear enough to be read
Portuguese ilegível
- ilegívelnot clear enough to be read
Romanian ilizibil
- ilizibilnot clear enough to be read
Russian неразбо́рчивый, нечёткий
- неразбо́рчивый (nerazbórčivyj)not clear enough to be read
- нечёткий (nečótkij)not clear enough to be read
Spanish ilegible, indescifrable
- ilegiblenot clear enough to be read
- indescifrablenot clear enough to be read
Swedish oläsbar
- oläsbarnot clear enough to be read
Turkish okunaksız, kargacık burgacık
- okunaksıznot clear enough to be read
- kargacık burgacıknot clear enough to be read
Ukrainian нерозбі́рливий
- нерозбі́рливий (nerozbírlyvyj)not clear enough to be read
Cite this entry
illegible. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/illegible
“illegible.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/illegible. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “illegible,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/illegible.
Source: illegible on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.