unpronounceable
4
7.9
- adjective
- /ʌnprəˈnaʊnsəbl/
:
inpronunciable
- Why do people insist on giving things such unpronounceable names?
- unpronounceable name
There are all these names, and they're almost all unpronounceable.
- There are all these names, and they're almost all unpronounceable.
Examples
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Many people find the chemical's name almost unpronounceable due to its complex structure.
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The closest thing it had to a name was a single unpronounceable syllable - "Qiip."
Fiction book (2000) -
A very nice man... with a completely unpronounceable name.
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I had to listen to the virtue of this stuff and other unpronounceable health thing for almost an hour.
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We brought in Tom Zgonc, the man with the most unpronounceable name in the Seattle music scene!
Blog text (20) -
This graceful yacht with the unpronounceable name sits directly on the bull's eye.
Fiction book (1992) -
Farms and grazing land had given over to industrial plants with unpronounceable names on the fronts of the buildings.
Fiction book (1992) -
In return, they taught me a game with an unpronounceable name, played with a bundle of short rods that change color when you touch them to each other.
Fiction book (1997) -
The Tetragrammaton, YHWH, has always been considered unpronounceable, just as its referent is ineffable.
Academic text (1992) -
"Because Antoine found the name Ngawang unpronounceable, 'Cello' was a good alternative, and the little man did seem a brown, worn-out old instrument.
Fiction book (2000)
Synonyms
Very hard or impossible to say correctly
Antonyms
How Pronounceable
Surface Forms
Morphology
unpronounceable = pronounceable (transparent) = un + pronounce + able
Formed by adding the negative prefix 'un-' to the adjective 'pronounceable', so the relation is direct and obvious to learners.
Etymology
Unpronounceable is made of un- meaning 'not' and pronounce meaning 'to say clearly', the same root you see in announce. So unpronounceable means 'not possible or very difficult to say correctly'.