🛡️ Cannot be scratched 😣 Cannot be soothed

unscratchable

6.5

An itch that does not get better when you rub it

adjective
/ʌnˈskrætʃəbl/

: inrascable

After the allergic reaction, I experienced an unscratchable sensation on my skin.

Examples

No matter how much I scratched, the feeling remained unscratchable and irritating.
He was feeling cheerful, despite the wind numbing the tips of his ears and the unscratchable itch creeping along the middle of his back; these were things that ordinarily irritated him and made him morose.

Blog text (34)
The bug bite left him with an unscratchable itch that drove him crazy.

How Relieved

comforted

1 2.1

relieved

8 1.6

unscratchable

6.5

unrelieved

2 7.4

Surface Forms

unscratchable positive

Morphology

unscratchable = scratchable (transparent) = un + scratch + able

Same structural build as the physical sense: 'un-' + (scratch + -able), giving 'not able to be scratched or relieved by scratching'.

Etymology

Unscratchable is made from un- 'not', scratch 'to rub your skin to stop an itch', and -able 'can be'. A helpful image is trying to scratch an itch but it does not go away, so unscratchable describes an itch or irritation that cannot be soothed.