analphabetic

English

Etymology

an- +‎ alphabetic

Adjective

analphabetic (comparative more analphabetic, superlative most analphabetic)

1. (not comparable) (of symbols) Not alphabetic.
2. (comparable) (of a person) Illiterate, unable to read or write.
   • 1935, George Orwell, chapter 19, in Burmese Days‎^[1]:

     His system of exchange was that for any book in his bundle you gave him four annas, and any other book. Not quite any book, however, for the book-wallah, though analphabetic, had learned to recognize and refuse a Bible.

Noun

analphabetic (plural analphabetics)

1. An illiterate person.
   • 1979, Nadine Gordimer, Burger's Daughter, Penguin, published 1980, page 267:

     At press conferences you hear a visiting statesman so eloquent in his own language—and then suddenly he tries a few words in French...an idiot speaking, an analphabetic from some wretched forgotten hamlet learning to read at the age of seventy.—