illegible
/ɪˈlɛd͡ʒəbəl/adjective
illegible is spelled I-L-L-E-G-I-B-L-E: 9 letters and 4 syllables. It appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 49,949th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, illegible means “Not clear enough to be read; unreadable; not legible or decipherable” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in illegible?
| Letters | 9: I-L-L-E-G-I-B-L-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 3 million words; the 49,949th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is illegible?
Illegible appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 49,949th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce illegible?
- /ɪˈlɛd͡ʒəbəl/
Illegible has 4 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vininn126-illegible.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of illegible
- more illegible comparative
- most illegible superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does illegible mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Not clear enough to be read; unreadable; not legible or decipherable.
illegible handwriting
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Illegible in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense not clear enough to be read:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | illisible, indéchiffrable, illégible |
| German | unleserlich |
| Portuguese | ilegível |
| Spanish | ilegible, indescifrable |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does illegible come from?
From il- + legible.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).