“Any boy failing to pass the test will be inedible.”
I’m a’gonna hope this is a cooking test and the food this boy cooks will be inedible, otherwise . . . well, it’s making an indelible impression on me!
Indelible not to be forgotten, whether it’s in your mind or on a shirt or wall!
Yep, inedible means it cannot be eaten.
Ineligible means not suitable, legally disqualified, or not meeting standards or requirements.
I’m hoping that any boy would be inedible . . . What about you? Would you consider that boy ineligible or inedible?
Word Confusions . . .
. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.
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| Indelible | Inedible | Ineligible |
|---|---|---|
 — |
 — |
 — |
| Part of Grammar: | ||
| Adjective | Adjective | Adjective; Noun
Plural for the noun: ineligibles |
| Adjective: [Of ink or a pen] Making marks that cannot be removed
|
Adjective: Not fit or suitable for eating |
Adjective: Legally or officially unable to be considered for a position or benefit
Noun: |
| Examples: | ||
| Adjective: She had used an indelible marker pen. His story made an indelible impression on me. Noo, this stain is indelible! I’ll never be able to wear this silk blouse again. The indelible influence of my fifth grade teacher is still with me decades later. He wishes he could forget those indelible memories of war. |
Adjective: She hadn’t realized it was an inedible variety of mushroom. Yuck, these cookies are inedible! “Groats are the entire kernel of the oat, with just the inedible husk removed” (Krystal). |
Adjective: They were ineligible for jury duty. As a son-in-law he was quite ineligible. Employees are ineligible in this contest. His felony conviction makes him ineligible to vote. His lack of a degree makes him ineligible for the position. “He would have let the house, but could find no tenant, in consequence of its ineligible and insalubrious site” (Brontë). His handwriting is illegible. Noun: “However, migration of workers from the ineligible population into the eligible population also changes the composition of the ineligibles” (Feldstein, p 1,227). |
| Derivatives: | ||
| Noun: indelibility | Noun: inedibility | Adverb: ineligibly Noun: ineligibility, ineligibleness |
| History of the Word: | ||
| Late 15th century, as indeleble, from the French, or from the Latin indelebilis, from in- (not) + delebilis (from delere meaning efface, delete). The ending was altered under the influence of -ible. | First recorded in 1815–25; in- + edible. | First recorded in 1760–70; in- + eligible. |
C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!
Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.
Resources for Indelible vs Inedible vs Ineligible
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Apple Dictionary.com
Brontë, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Originally published 1847. Global Publishers, 2023. <https://amzn.to/3Jgf6xn>. Ebook.
Dictionary.com: inedible, ineligible
Feldstein, Martin and A.J. Auerbach. Handbook of Public Economics. North Holland, 1985. <https://amzn.to/4cOfwsB>. Ebook.
“Ineligible.” Wikipedia. 29 Aug 2023. Accessed 12 Apr 2024. <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ineligible#Noun>.
Krystal, Becky. “Get to Know Your Oats and All the Types and Ways to Eat Them.” Washington Post. 12 Apr 2021. Accessed 12 Apr 2024. <https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2021/04/12/oats-types-how-to-cook/>.
Vocabulary.com: ineligible
Word Hippo: ineligible
Pinterest Photo Credits
Photo with a Red Point of Interest by cogdogblog is under the CC BY 2.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons and courtesy of the Daily Shoot. Super Sharpie by John R Southern is under the CC BY-SA 2.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons.
