inept

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French inepte, from Latin ineptus, from in- + aptus (whence English apt).

Pronunciation

• (UK, US, Canada) IPA^(key): /ɪˈnɛpt/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ɪˈnept/

Rhymes: -ɛpt

Adjective

inept (comparative more inept, superlative most inept)

1. Not able to do something; not proficient; displaying incompetence.

   As a waiter, he was inept, so they put him in the kitchen.

2. Unfit; unsuitable.
   • 1954, W. K. Wimsatt, The Verbal Icon‎^[1], University Press of Kentucky, page xiii:

     The bungled phrase, the slipshod paragraph, the inept metaphor, the irrelevant excursion, the disproportionate development, the feeble conclusion, are indeed all failures of meaning, and the more poetically ambitious the verbal structure in which they occur, the deeper and more substantive the failure may be.

Antonyms

• apt
• adept
• skillful

Derived terms

• ept
• ineptitude
• ineptly

Translations

not able to do something

• Armenian: անձեռնհաս (hy) (anjeṙnhas)
• Bulgarian: неумел (bg) (neumel), некадърен (bg) (nekadǎren)
• Catalan: inepte
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 無能嘅 / 无能嘅 (mou⁴ nang⁴ ke³), 笨拙嘅 (ban⁶ zyut³ ge³)

  Mandarin: 無能的 / 无能的 (wúnéng de), 笨拙的 (bènzhuō de)

• Czech: neschopný (cs) m, nešikovný (cs), neobratný (cs)
• Dutch: ongeschikt (nl), onbekwaam (nl)
• Estonian: ebapädev, saamatu, soss-sepp, asjatundmatu
• Finnish: avuton (fi), taitamaton (fi), kyvytön (fi), osaamaton (fi)
• French: inepte (fr)
• German: unfähig (de)
• Greek: ανίκανος (el) (aníkanos), άχρηστος (el) (áchristos)
• Hindi: कुकृय m (kukŕy)
• Ido: nekapabla (io)
• Italian: inetto (it)
• Japanese: 不向きな (fumuki na), 苦手な (ja) (nigate na), 弱い (ja) (yowai)
• Macedonian: неспособен (nesposoben), некадарен (nekadaren)
• Maori: koretake, hakorea, pakihawa, rapa
• Norwegian: talentløs, tåpelig (no), udugelig (no), uskikket
• Plautdietsch: onjeschekjt
• Polish: neptek (pl) m, nieudolny (pl), niezaradny (pl)
• Portuguese: inapto (pt), incapaz (pt), incompetente (pt)
• Romanian: incompetent (ro), incapabil (ro)
• Russian: неуме́лый (ru) (neumélyj), неспосо́бный (ru) (nesposóbnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: baoth
• Spanish: inepto (es), incapaz (es)
• Turkish: beceriksiz (tr), yeteneksiz (tr)
• Ukrainian: невмі́лий (nevmílyj)
• Yoruba: ope

unfit, unsuitable

• Bulgarian: неподходящ (bg) (nepodhodjašt), неуместен (bg) (neumesten)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 唔適當嘅 / 唔适当嘅 (m⁴ sik¹ dong³ ge³)

  Mandarin: 不適當的 / 不适当的 (bùshìdàng de)

• Czech: nevhodný (cs) m, nejapný (cs)
• Estonian: ebapädev, sobimatu
• German: ungeeignet (de), untauglich (de)
• Japanese: 不向きな (fumuki na), 不適な (ja) (futeki na), 不適当な (ja) (futekitō na)
• Macedonian: неприкладен (neprikladen), несоодветен (nesoodveten)
• Russian: него́дный (ru) (negódnyj)

Anagrams

• nepit

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French inepte, from Latin ineptus.

Adjective

inept m or n (feminine singular ineptă, masculine plural inepți, feminine and neuter plural inepte)

1. inept

Declension

		singular				plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine		masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	inept		ineptă		inepți	inepte
	definite	ineptul		inepta		inepții	ineptele
genitive- dative	indefinite	inept		inepte		inepți	inepte
	definite	ineptului		ineptei		inepților	ineptelor