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