analphabet
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ænˈælfəbɛt/
ipa: /ˌæˈnælfəbɛt/
Forms: form: analphabets
form: analphabete
Etymology: From Late Latin analphabetus (“unable to read and write; illiterate”), from Ancient Greek ἀναλφάβητος (analphábētos, “illiterate”), from ἀν- (an-, “un-”) + ἀλφάβητος (alphábētos, “alphabet”); analysable as an- + alphabet. The English word was probably influenced by cognate words in other languages such as French analphabète (adjective), German Analphabetus, Analphabet (nouns), analphabeten (adjective), Italian analfabeta (adjective, noun), analfabeto (adjective, noun), Portuguese analfabeto (adjective, noun), Spanish analfabeto (adjective, noun).
The adjective was derived from the noun.
Senses: examples: text: In 1861, out of a total population of 21,777,331, there were no less than 16,999,701 "analphabetes," or persons absolutely unable to read.
ref: 1896, J[ohn] M[orrison] Reid, J. T. Gracey, “Part XI. Mission to Italy.”, in Missions and the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church […] In Three Volumes, volume III, New York, N.Y.: Hunt & Eaton; Cincinnati, Oh.: Cranston & Curts, section 7 (Annual Conferences, 1886–1887), page 327:
text: The governor of a distant province receives a telegram from the Ministry asking how many analphabets (illiterates) there are in his area. Neither he nor his colleagues know what an analphabet is, but as anarchism also begins with 'an' they guess that an analphabet must be a dangerous enemy of the state, and report that they have only one—the schoolmaster.
ref: 1960, Opera, volume 11, London: Rolls House Publishing Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 281:
text: The Beckettian progression appears occasionally: while Miss Counihan (static) is an omnivorous reader and Murphy (transitional) a strict non-reader, Cooper is an analphabete.
ref: 1968, Robert [Ligon] Harrison, Samuel Beckett’s Murphy: A Critical Excursion (University of Georgia Monographs; no. 15), Athens, Ga.: University of Georgia Press, →OCLC, page 57:
text: As to [Paulo] Freire's methods, we should keep in mind that they were primarily developed to teach adult analphabets their own language, as a part of a 'conscientization' process.
ref: 1985, Jacob L[ouis] Mey, “Language Manipulation”, in Whose Language?: A Study in Linguistic Pragmatics, Amsterdam; Philadelphia, Pa.: John Benjamins Publishing Company, →ISBN, section 1.3 (Concluding Remarks), paragraph 66, page 84:
text: The porter was an analphabete, but together / we found your name, down among the Os, / and there you were, my brave love, / in a loose hospital gown that covered nothing; […]
ref: 1986, Michael Hofmann, “From A to B and Back Again”, in Frank Ormsby, Robert Johnstone, editors, The Honest Ulsterman, number 82, Belfast: Michael Stephens, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 16; reprinted in Mark Ford, editor, London: A History in Verse, Cambridge, Mass.; London: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2012, →ISBN, page 704:
text: (1) What is the impact of not learning written language on the aphasic semeiology of an analphabet? (2) How do physiological mechanisms relate to the production of language in an analphabet? (3) What relationships, if any, can be discerned between an adult analphabet and the aphasia of a child before learning how to write.
ref: 1989, David Yau-Fai Ho, John A. Spinks, Cecilia Siu-Hing Yeung, editors, Chinese Patterns of Behavior: A Sourcebook of Psychological and Psychiatric Studies, New York, N.Y.; London: Praeger, →ISBN, page 380, column 2:
synonyms: word: illiterate
glosses: A person who does not know the letters of the alphabet; a partly or wholly illiterate person.
Derived terms: analphabetic
analphabetical
analphabetically
analphabetism