analphabet

noun

1. A person who does not know the letters of the alphabet; a partly or wholly illiterate person.

   “In 1861, out of a total population of 21,777,331, there were no less than 16,999,701 "analphabetes," or persons absolutely unable to read.”

   “The governor of a distant province receives a telegram from the Ministry asking how many analphabets (illiterates) there are in his area. Neither he nor his colleagues know what an analphabet is, but as anarchism also begins with 'an' they guess that an analphabet must be a dangerous enemy of the state, and report that they have only one—the schoolmaster.”

   “The Beckettian progression appears occasionally: while Miss Counihan (static) is an omnivorous reader and Murphy (transitional) a strict non-reader, Cooper is an analphabete.”

   “As to [Paulo] Freire's methods, we should keep in mind that they were primarily developed to teach adult analphabets their own language, as a part of a 'conscientization' process.”

   “The porter was an analphabete, but together / we found your name, down among the Os, / and there you were, my brave love, / in a loose hospital gown that covered nothing; […]”

adj

1. Ignorant of the letters of the alphabet; partly or wholly illiterate.

   “[…] Vincentius Pinelli’s Books, which after his death, being ſhipped by his Heirs for Naples, and taken by the Turks, were many of them thrown overboard by thoſe Analphabet Rogues, who looked for other merchandiſe than Books. Yet many of them were recovered again for Money, […]”

   “And of the Mohammedan population nearly all the women are analphabet.”

   “All these love tales are in verse, transmitted up to this day, through countless generations of oral tradition by an analphabete people with an inborn, unerring sense of art.”

   “The illustrious bookstore has nothing for helping analphabets. The sales assistant looks like a pontificating doctor, and informs Édith that there is a difference between analphabet and illiterate: […] The two encyclopedias Édith and Gilles have at home do not make any distinction between illiterate and analphabet.”

   “To present myself, I gave the contractor my business card. He gave it twenty seconds of concentrated attention and then passed it to his secretary. The contractor joked that his secretary would give it the high level of attention it deserved. He was analphabet. I could have confused the package with the product and rapidly concluded that I had nothing to expect for our business from an analphabet contractor and gently blow up the meeting. I didn't.”