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in·scru·ta·ble

(ĭn-skrtə-bəl)

adj.

Difficult to understand or interpret; impenetrable: "that little creature, whose innocent life had sprung, by the inscrutable decree of Providence ... out of the rank luxuriance of a guilty passion" (Nathaniel Hawthorne).

[Middle English, from Old French, from Late Latin īnscrūtābilis : in-, not; see IN-¹ + scrūtārī, to scrutinize; see SCRUTINY.]

in·scru′ta·bili·ty n.

in·scruta·bly adv.

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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