Standard Lemma guide

legible

adj · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˈlɛd͡ʒəbl/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɛdʒəbl
  • CMU ARPABET: L EH1 JH AH0 B AH0 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Clear enough to be read; readable, particularly of handwriting.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • Despite hardly having any energy to lift a pen, she left a legible note on the paper.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: clean, clear, decipherable, fair, readable

Antonyms: illegible, unreadable

2

adj

Meaning 2

Written or phrased so as to be easy to understand.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • You can make this program code more legible by using meaningful variable names.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: clear, decipherable, readable

Antonyms: unreadable

3

adjective

Meaning 3

(of handwriting, print, etc.) capable of being read or deciphered

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • legible handwriting

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: illegible

History

Etymology

From Late Latin legibilis (“that can be read”), from Latin legō.

Across languages

Translations

56 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: مَقْرُوء (maqrūʔ) — clear enough to be read
  • Armenian: ընթեռնելի (əntʻeṙneli) — clear enough to be read
  • Asturian: lleíble — clear enough to be read
  • Basque: irakurterraz — clear enough to be read
  • Bulgarian: четлив (četliv) — clear enough to be read
  • Catalan: llegible — clear enough to be read
  • Chinese Mandarin: 可讀的 /可读的 — clear enough to be read
  • Czech: čitelný — clear enough to be read
  • Danish: læselig — clear enough to be read
  • Danish: læsbar — clear enough to be read
  • Dutch: leesbaar — clear enough to be read
  • Esperanto: legebla — clear enough to be read
  • Finnish: luettava — clear enough to be read
  • Finnish: lukukelpoinen — clear enough to be read
  • French: lisible — clear enough to be read
  • Galician: lexible — clear enough to be read
  • Galician: lexíbel — clear enough to be read
  • German: leserlich — clear enough to be read
  • Greek: ευανάγνωστος (evanágnostos) — clear enough to be read
  • Greek: αναγνώσιμος (anagnósimos) — clear enough to be read
  • Hebrew: קָרִיא (karí) — clear enough to be read
  • Hungarian: olvasható — clear enough to be read
  • Hungarian: elolvasható — clear enough to be read
  • Hungarian: kiolvasható — clear enough to be read
  • Icelandic: læsilegur — clear enough to be read
  • Ido: lektebla — clear enough to be read
  • Interlingua: legible — clear enough to be read
  • Irish: inléite — clear enough to be read
  • Italian: leggibile — clear enough to be read
  • Japanese: 読める (yomeru) — clear enough to be read
  • Japanese: 読みやすい (yomiyasui) — clear enough to be read
  • Japanese: 可読 (kadoku) — clear enough to be read
  • Luxembourgish: lieserlech — clear enough to be read
  • Manx: so-lhaih — clear enough to be read
  • Manx: lhaihagh — clear enough to be read
  • Manx: lhaihoil — clear enough to be read
  • Occitan: legible — clear enough to be read
  • Polish: czytelny — clear enough to be read
  • Portuguese: legível — clear enough to be read
  • Romanian: lizibil — clear enough to be read
  • Romanian: citeț — clear enough to be read
  • Romanian: delușit — clear enough to be read
  • Romanian: descifrabil — clear enough to be read
  • Russian: разбо́рчивый (razbórčivyj) — clear enough to be read
  • Russian: удобочита́емый (udobočitájemyj) — clear enough to be read
  • Spanish: legible — clear enough to be read
  • Spanish: leíble — clear enough to be read
  • Swedish: läslig — clear enough to be read
  • Swedish: läsbar — clear enough to be read
  • Tibetan: ཀློག་བདེ་པོ (klog bde po) — clear enough to be read
  • Turkish: okunaklı — clear enough to be read
  • Ukrainian: розбі́рливий (rozbírlyvyj) — clear enough to be read
  • Ukrainian: читабельний (čytabelʹnyj) — clear enough to be read
  • Vietnamese: dễ đọc — clear enough to be read
  • Yiddish: לייענעוודיק (leyenevdik) — clear enough to be read
  • Zyphe: fiang — clear enough to be read