# illiterate



## Encolpius

An illiterate is a person who is unable to to read or write. What do you call that person in your language? Thanks. 

*Hungarian*: analfabéta [the origin is evident, I am not sure if English use a word with the same origin]
I'd like to know if you use also something like the Hungarian word.


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## sakvaka

As far as I know, there's no special term in *Finnish*. We just say _luku- ja kirjoitustaidoton _(who lacks the skills of reading and writing) or simply _lukutaidoton_ (who lacks the skill of reading).


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## Encolpius

sakvaka said:


> As far as I know, there's no special term in *Finnish*. We just say _luku- ja kirjoitustaidoton _(who lacks the skills of reading and writing) or simply _lukutaidoton_ (who lacks the skill of reading).



Maybe the reason is there have not been many illiterates in Finland.


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## jazyk

In Portuguese: iliterado/iletrado or more commonly, at least in Brazil, analfabeto.


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## Frank78

In German:

Analphabet.


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## phosphore

Serbian:

*nepismen* (adj.) (pismen=literate, from pismo=letter, alphabet)

also *analfabeta* (m. noun)


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## apmoy70

In Greek:
Αναλφάβητος-αναλφάβητη-αναλφάβητο
anal'favitos (_m._)-anal'faviti (_f._)-anal'favito (_n._)
Privative prefix «αν-» + «αλφάβητος» (al'favitos, _f._-->alphabet)
or
Αγράμματος-αγράμματη-αγράμματο
a'ɣramatos (_m._)-a'ɣramati (_f._)-a'ɣramato (_n._)
Privative prefix «α-» + «γράμμα» ('ɣrama, _n._-->letter)


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## Maroseika

Russian - неграмотный < грамота < γράμματα (of writings).
Cf. αγράμματο

BTW, according to Vasmer, Finnish _raamattu _amd Estonian _raamat _are the loans of Russian грамота.


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## Hakro

sakvaka said:


> As far as I know, there's no special term in *Finnish*. We just say _luku- ja kirjoitustaidoton _(who lacks the skills of reading and writing) or simply _lukutaidoton_ (who lacks the skill of reading).


I'd say that _lukutaidoton_ is the special term needed here. If one lacks the skill of reading, s/he automatically lacks the skill of writing, too.

Of course we also have the loan word _analfabeetti_ but it's seldom used in colloquial speech.


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## Juan Nadie

I am going to surprise you all with the Spanish word for illiterate. It is.... analfabeto!
Big surprise, isn't it? And very original


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## apmoy70

Maroseika said:


> Russian - неграмотный < грамота < *γράμματα (of writings)*.
> Cf. αγράμματο
> 
> BTW, according to Vasmer, Finnish _raamattu _amd Estonian _raamat _are the loans of Russian грамота.


Hi Maroseika,
γράμματα is nominative plural of the neuter noun, γράμμα-->letter, writing.
"Of writings" it'd be γραμμάτων


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## Maroseika

Thanks for correction, apmoy70.


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## ThomasK

Dutch: _*ongeletterd*_ ('unlettered'), _*analfabeet*_.


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## apmoy70

Hi Thomas,
how is _*analfabeet *_pronounced?Is the *ee *part like a macron ē or is it like in English?
Thanks in advance


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## Rallino

In Turkish, someone who CAN read and write is called: *okuryazar* (lit. reads&writes)

We don't have a specific adjective for someone who is illiterate -thus, who is not an _okuryazar_. So we'd probably go with: _*okuryazar olmayan*_, which equates to: _one who can't read or write._


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## Encolpius

Rallino said:


> In Turkish, someone who CAN read and write is called: *okuryazar* (lit. reads&writes)
> 
> We don't have a specific adjective for someone who is illiterate -thus, who is not an _okuryazar_. So we'd probably go with: _*okuryazar olmayan*_, which equates to: _one who can't read or write._



Quite interesting, so didn't you even adopt an international word?


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## Rallino

When you say: analfabet / analphabet, I understand you only because I know the word from European Languages. Otherwise it doesn't ring any bells or light any bulbs in a Turk's head =) We haven't adopted an international word.


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## Csaba

Encolpius, there is also írástudatlan for illiterate in Hungarian, but I can't make up my mind which one is used more often. Definitely if I wanted to talk jokingly about someone who I think is not very smart I'd use the word "analfabéta" but probably in a scientific article or an encyclopedia írástudatlan would be more common? What's your opinion on this?


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## ThomasK

@  Apmoy: the /ee/ is the long monophthong (like in _bay_, but without the j-sound; I cannot find the phonetical symbol right now).


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## ThomasK

@Csaba/ Encolpius and Sakvaka: what is the very literal meaning of your word ?


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## Csaba

Analfabéta comes from Greek and it means "no alphabet" or something along those lines. 'Írástudatlan' means 'without the knowledge of writing' (írás is writing, tudatlan is ignorant).


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## Cagey

Encolpius said:


> An illiterate is a person who is unable to to read or write. What do you call that person in your language? Thanks.
> 
> *Hungarian*: analfabéta [the origin is evident, I am not sure if English use a word with the same origin]
> [....]


English also has "_unlettered_".  It is a more old-fashioned word than _illiterate._

The OED's fist citation for _unlettered _ is about 1340. The OED relates it etymologically to  the Dutch word given in post 13: _*ongeletterd*_  ('unlettered').

The OED's first citation for _illiterate_ is for 1556.

I prefer _unlettered_, as it seems to me not to have the pejorative coloring _illiterate_ has.  However I suspect that these days _unlettered_ sounds too literary for most contexts.


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## Orlin

Bulgarian: _неграмотен_ (negram*o*ten, adj.) probably with the same etymology as the respective Russian word explained in a previous post and very rarely _аналфабет_ (analfab*e*t, n., m.).


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## enoo

*French*: analphabète 

(Now what French need is a word for people that can read but can't write without using the ugly 'SMS spelling' )


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## phosphore

enoo said:


> *French*: analphabète
> 
> (Now what French need is a word for people that can read but can't write without using the ugly 'SMS spelling' )


 
Allé, sè pa oci mal k sa


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## Orlin

> These days in Serbian we use "polupismen" (semi-literate) rather that "nepismen" (illiterate), maybe there is some word like that in French?


 
It is quite normal for us to say "полуграмотен" (semi-literate) too - probably because people who can't read and write at all hardly exist nowadays and (полу)грамотен usually refer to linguistically incompetent people.


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## sakvaka

ThomasK said:


> @Csaba/ Encolpius and Sakvaka: what is the very literal meaning of your word ?



It's just what I wrote: 

_luku- ja kirjoitustaidoton _= who lacks the skills of reading and  writing 
_lukutaidoton_ = who lacks the skill of reading

luku = reading (< lukea + -U)
kirjoitus = writing (< kirjoittaa + -Us)
taidoton = _caritive deriv. _"skill-less" (< taito + -tOn)


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## ThomasK

Are you implying you make a distinction, Sakvaka ?


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## sakvaka

You mean, distinction between _luku- ja kirjoitustaidoton _and _lukutaidoton_? As Hakro said earlier, the one who is _lukutaidoton_ is automatically _kirjoitustaidoton_, too. There's no need to add the latter part if you don't want. 

But according to Google, _luku- ja kirjoitustaidottomat_ is more common than simply _lukutaidottomat_. The full version may be more "official".


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## ThomasK

I am sorry, I did not realize Hakro had written about that !


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## mataripis

*TAGALOG: Walang Aral/ De pa Dumaget:Eyen te adel*


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