illiteracy

English

Etymology

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
• 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