/an'al feuh bet"ik, an al'-/ , adj.
1. not alphabetic: an analphabetic arrangement of letters.
2. unable to read or write; illiterate: analphabetic peoples.
3. Phonet. of or constituting a system of phonetic transcription, as the one devised by Otto Jespersen, that for each sound indicates by separate sets of symbols the articulator, the point of articulation, and the size and shape of the mouth opening.
n.
4. an illiterate person; analphabet.
[ 1660-70; analphábet ( os ) not knowing the alphabet ( an- AN- 1 + alphábet ( os ) ALPHABET + -os adj. suffix) + -IC ]