unknowable

/ʌnˈnoʊ.ə.bəl/

Etymology

From un- + knowable.

unknowable means Not knowable; not able to be known. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 76 out of 100.

Why this word is great

UNKNOWABLE — [Adjective] Incapable of being known, understood, or comprehended. From the English prefix un- ("not") + knowable, with knowable ultimately from the Old English cnāwan ("to know, perceive"). Unlike "inscrutable" (which suggests an impenetrable surface that might yet be scratched) or "unknown" (which implies a temporary absence of data, a solvable equation), "unknowable" asserts a fundamental, ontological limit. It is the private agony behind another's eyes, the true nature of a universe that exists before and after observation, and the specific quality of the darkness before your first memory—a frontier not of discovery, but of the mind’s own irrevocable limits. To declare something unknowable is to lay down one's tools in a quiet recognition of the permanent solitude of consciousness.

adj

Not knowable; not able to be known.“Number fourteen: Some of the things you need to know are things that are unknowable.”

noun

Something that cannot be known.“That night I think of other unknowables. How much love does one need in a lifetime? Is there a quantity of brain space that is allocated to love? And for those of us who have loved less, does this space become occupied by something else? Like cricket, or religion, perhaps.”