ineffable

adj

Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *né Proto-Indo-European *n̥- Proto-Italic *n̥- Latin in- Proto-Indo-European *h₁éǵʰ Proto-Indo-European *-s Proto-Indo-European *h₁éǵʰs Proto-Italic *eks Latin ex Latin ex- Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- Proto-Indo-European *bʰéh₂ti Proto-Italic *fāōr Latin for Latin effārī, effor Proto-Indo-European *-tḗr Proto-Indo-European *-dʰlom Proto-Indo-European *-dʰlis Proto-Italic *-ðlis Latin -bilis Latin effābilis Latin ineffābilislbor. Middle French ineffablebor. English ineffable Borrowed from Middle French ineffable, a learned borrowing from Latin ineffābilis, from in- + effābilis.

1. Beyond expression in words; unspeakable.

   “Devotion bids aspire to nobler things, to boundless love, and joys ineffable: and such her expectation from kind Heav'n.”

   “Stroeve was trying to express a feeling which he had never known before, and he did not know how to put it into common terms. He was like the mystic seeking to describe the ineffable.”

2. Forbidden to be uttered; taboo.