Where does “unreadable” come from?
Unreadable comes from English readable, which derives from English read, traced to Proto-Indo-European h₁rewdʰ-, meaning to scratch or scrape, the root of reading as deciphering marks.
unreadable (English): That cannot be read or is not easy to read; Not...
Definitions
- That cannot be read or is not easy to read; Not...
Ancestry of “unreadable”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | readable | legible, possible to read or at least decipher;... |
| 2 | English | read | To look at and interpret letters or other... |
| 3 | Middle English | reden | to counsel, advise; to study; to read |
| 4 | Old English | rǣdan | to read, interpret; to counsel, advise; plot,... |
| 5 | Proto-West Germanic | rādan | to advise, counsel, help; to devise, decide,... |
| 6 | Proto-Germanic | rēdaną | to decide, advise |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | Hreh₁dʰ- | to think; to arrange; to succeed, accomplish |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | h₂reh₁- | to think, reason; to arrange |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | h₂er- | to fit, to fix, to put together |