illiteracy

English

Etymology

From il- +‎ literacy.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪˈlɪtəɹəsi/, /ɪˈlɪt͡ʃɹəsi/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

illiteracy (countable and uncountable, plural illiteracies)

1. (uncountable) The inability to read and write.

   Illiteracy is widespread in certain areas of the country.

2. (uncountable) The portion of a population unable to read and write, generally given as a percentage.
3. (countable) A word, phrase, or grammatical turn thought to be characteristic of an illiterate person.
4. (uncountable, by extension) Unlearnedness; the state of being ignorant or unlettered.

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:illiteracy.

Synonyms

• analphabetism

Antonyms

• literacy

Coordinate terms

• innumeracy
• semiliteracy
• subliteracy

Derived terms

• computer illiteracy

 

Related terms

• aliteracy
• illiterate

Translations

inability to read and write

Arabic: أُمِّيَّة f (ʔummiyya) Bulgarian: неграмотност (bg) f (negramotnost) Catalan: analfabetisme (ca) m Chinese: Eastern Min: 青盲牛 (chăng-màng-ngù) Mandarin: 文盲 (zh) (wénmáng) Chukchi: айгоԓяткэгыргын (ajgoḷjatkėgyrgyn) Czech: negramotnost f Danish: analfabetisme c Dutch: analfabetisme (nl) n Esperanto: analfabeteco Faroese: ólesi n Finnish: lukutaidottomuus (fi) French: analphabétisme (fr) m, illettrisme (fr) m, illittérature (fr) f (rare) Galician: analfabetismo (gl) m Georgian: წერა-კითხვის უცოდინრობა (c̣era-ḳitxvis ucodinroba) German: Analphabetismus (de) n Hindi: निरक्षरता (hi) f (nirakṣartā) Hungarian: írástudatlanság (hu), analfabetizmus (hu) Indonesian: buta aksara (id) Irish: neamhlitearthacht f Italian: analfabetismo (it) m Japanese: 非識字 (ひしきじ, hi-shikiji), 文盲 (ja) (もんもう, mon'mō) Kazakh: сауатсыздық (sauatsyzdyq) Kurdish: Central Kurdish: نەخوێندەواری (nexwêndewarî) Northern Kurdish: nexwendewarî (ku) f Lao: ຄວາມບໍ່ຮູ້ໜັງສື (khuām bǭ hū nang sư̄) Latin: analphabētismus m Macedonian: неписменост f (nepismenost) Norwegian: Bokmål: analfabetisme (no) m Nynorsk: analfabetisme m Polish: analfabetyzm (pl) m, niepiśmienność f Portuguese: analfabetismo m, iliteracia (pt) f Russian: негра́мотность (ru) f (negrámotnostʹ), безгра́мотность (ru) f (bezgrámotnostʹ) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: неписменост f Roman: nepismenost (sh) f Spanish: analfabetismo (es) m Swedish: analfabetism (sv) c Tagalog: dikanulatan, kamaangan Telugu: నిరక్షరాస్యత (nirakṣarāsyata)

See also

• alphabetism