preliterate
Americanadjective
-
lacking a written language; nonliterate.
a preliterate culture.
-
occurring before the development or use of writing.
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of preliterate
Explanation
Someone who's preliterate hasn't learned how to read or write yet. Your two year-old cousin is probably preliterate. Small children are preliterate, and some people with learning difficulties remain preliterate for much longer. There are even entire preliterate societies, in which no one knows how to read or write. In these cultures, people speak and communicate perfectly well — they just don't have a written version of their language. When you're literate, you can read and write. Both words have a Latin root, literatus, "educated," or literally, "one who knows the letters."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
This is not to say that there isn’t anything valuable to be found in the oral histories of preliterate societies, or in prehistoric cave paintings and archaeological artifacts.
From Textbooks ● Apr. 19, 2023
Myths themselves commonly embody the religious beliefs of ancient or preliterate peoples, but Philip Ball suggests that we are still generating them.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 18, 2021
The most puzzling part of the whole civilisation-to-the-rescue proposal is that whenever modern-day explorers have encountered preliterate people, the violent ones have invariably been the explorers.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 12, 2019
The same gestures can be identified as prideful by 4-year-old children, and by people in preliterate societies throughout the world.
From Slate ● Apr. 3, 2015
How can we ever hope to wrest the answers to those questions from Africa’s preliterate past, lacking the written evidence that teaches us about the spread of the Roman Empire?
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
