entry
inscrutable
/ˌɪnˈskruːtəbəl/impossible to understand or decipher
From Late Latin in- (not) + Latin scrut- (to examine).
from Late Latin inscrutabilis
+1 more sourcefrom Late Latin inscrutabilis
+1 more sourcefrom Late Latin inscrutabilis
+1 more sourceWord Ancestry
from Late Latin inscrutabilis
+1 more sourcefrom Late Latin inscrutabilis
+1 more sourcefrom Late Latin inscrutabilis
+1 more sourcePicture a Roman clerk with a tablet in one hand and a sharp eye for detail, the sort of person who could ransack a case file until every hidden scrap turned up. That inspecting motion lives in Latin scrutari, the ancestor of our scrutiny and scrutinize, while the little negative prefix in- slams the door shut in front of it. Put them together in Late Latin inscrutabilis, and you get a wonderfully stubborn idea: something that resists every search, every prodding look, every human attempt to sort it out. English borrowed it around c. 1500, and it has kept that air of cool, sealed mystery ever since. If scrutiny is the flashlight, inscrutable is the locked room that refuses to reflect it back.
The Story
Picture a Roman clerk with a tablet in one hand and a sharp eye for detail, the sort of person who could ransack a case file until every hidden scrap turned up. That inspecting motion lives in Latin scrutari, the ancestor of our scrutiny and scrutinize, while the little negative prefix in- slams the door shut in front of it. Put them together in Late Latin inscrutabilis, and you get a wonderfully stubborn idea: something that resists every search, every prodding look, every human attempt to sort it out. English borrowed it around c. 1500, and it has kept that air of cool, sealed mystery ever since. If scrutiny is the flashlight, inscrutable is the locked room that refuses to reflect it back.
Kin & Kindred
From 'in-'·not; opposite of
Derived Terms
English words from this root
From 'scrut-'·to examine, search, ransack
Derived Terms
English words from this root