Incomprehensible
Incomprehensible is an adjective describing something that cannot be understood or is very difficult to understand. It may refer to speech, writing, or ideas that resist intelligibility due to complexity, obscurity, unfamiliar language, ambiguous structure, or perceptual barriers. The term derives from the Latin incomprehensibilis, from in- "not" + comprehendere "to seize or grasp." In English, incomprehensible is often used when content exceeds the listener's or reader's ability to make sense of it, rather than merely being poorly expressed.
In practice, incomprehensible speech may result from rapid or mumbled delivery, heavy jargon, or a foreign language.
Related terms include unintelligible, opaque, and inscrutable. Antonyms are intelligible, understandable, and comprehensible. The noun form
See also: intelligibility, language barrier, jargon, readability, inscrutability.