inexplicable

English

Etymology

From Middle English inexplicable, from Middle French inexplicable, from Latin inexplicābilis, from in- (“not”) +‎ explicābilis (“explicable”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌɪn.ɪkˈsplɪ.kə.bl̩/, /ɪnˈɛk.splɪ.kə.bəl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Adjective

inexplicable (comparative more inexplicable, superlative most inexplicable)

1. Impossible to explain; not easily accounted for.

   Synonyms: inexplainable, unexplainable, insoluble; see also Thesaurus:incomprehensible

   Antonyms: explicable; see also Thesaurus:comprehensible

   • 1873, Jules Verne, chapter I, in [anonymous], transl., Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Seas; […], James R. Osgood edition, Boston, Mass.: Geo[rge] M[urray] Smith & Co., →OCLC, part I, page 3:

     The year 1866 was signalised by a remarkable incident, a mysterious and inexplicable phenomenon, which doubtless no one has yet forgotten.

Derived terms

• inexplicability
• inexplicableness
• inexplicably

 

Translations

impossible to explain

• Albanian: i pashpjegueshëm (sq)
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Asturian: inesplicable
• Belarusian: невытлумача́льны (njevytlumačálʹny)
• Bulgarian: необясни́м (bg) (neobjasním)
• Catalan: inexplicable (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 不能說明的 / 不能说明的 (bùnéng shuōmíng de)

• Czech: nevysvětlitelný (cs)
• Danish: uforklarlig
• Dutch: onverklaarbaar (nl)
• Esperanto: neklarigebla
• Finnish: selittämätön, käsittämätön (fi)
• French: inexplicable (fr)
• Galician: inexplicable (gl), inexplicábel (gl)
• German: unerklärlich (de)
• Greek: ανεξήγητος (el) (anexígitos)

  Ancient: δύσφραστος (dúsphrastos)

• Hungarian: megmagyarázhatatlan (hu)
• Icelandic: óútskýranlegur
• Italian: inspiegabile (it), incomprensibile (it), inesplicabile (it)
• Japanese: 割り切れない (わりきれない, warikirenai), 不可解な (ja) (ふか​かいな, fukakai na), 説明がつかない (ja) (せつめいがつかない, setsumei ga tsukanai)
• Korean: 불가해하다 (bulgahaehada), 설명할 수 없다 (seolmyeonghal su eopda)
• Latin: inēnōdābilis
• Lithuanian: nesuprantamas
• Macedonian: необјаснив (neobjasniv)
• Manx: neuhoilsheydagh, neureaghee
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: uforklarlig

  Nynorsk: uforklarleg, uforklårleg

• Occitan: inexplicable (oc)
• Old English: unāreccendlīċ
• Polish: niewytłumaczalny (pl)
• Portuguese: inexplicável (pt)
• Romanian: inexplicabil (ro), neexplicabil
• Russian: необъясни́мый (ru) (neobʺjasnímyj)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: необја̀шњив

  Roman: neobjàšnjiv (sh)

• Slovak: nevysvetliteľný
• Slovene: nerazložljiv
• Spanish: inexplicable
• Swedish: oförklarlig (sv)
• Thai: ที่อธิบายไม่ได้ (tîi à-tí-baai mâi-dâi)
• Turkish: açıklanamaz
• Ukrainian: непоясни́мий (nepojasnýmyj), непоясне́нний (nepojasnénnyj)
• Welsh: anesboniadwy (cy)

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin inexplicābilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [in.əks.pliˈkab.blə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [in.eks.pliˈka.ble]
• Rhymes: -abblə, -able

Adjective

inexplicable m or f (masculine and feminine plural inexplicables)

1. inexplicable

   Antonym: explicable

Derived terms

• inexplicablement

Further reading

• “inexplicable” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “inexplicable”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “inexplicable” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “inexplicable” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

French

Etymology

From Latin inexplicābilis. By surface analysis, in- +‎ explicable.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /i.nɛk.spli.kabl/

Adjective

inexplicable (plural inexplicables)

1. inexplicable, unexplainable

   Antonym: explicable

Derived terms

• inexplicablement

Further reading

• “inexplicable”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Galician

Alternative forms

• inexplicável (reintegrationist)
• inexplicábel

Etymology

From Latin inexplicābilis.

Adjective

inexplicable m or f (plural inexplicables)

1. inexplicable, unexplainable

   Antonym: explicable

Derived terms

• inexplicablemente

Further reading

• “inexplicable”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2024

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin inexplicābilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ineɡspliˈkable/ [i.neɣ̞s.pliˈka.β̞le]
• Rhymes: -able
• Syllabification: i‧nex‧pli‧ca‧ble

Adjective

inexplicable m or f (masculine and feminine plural inexplicables)

1. inexplicable, unexplainable

   Antonym: explicable

Derived terms

• inexplicablemente

 

Further reading

• “inexplicable”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10