The Negative Prefix il-

The Negative Prefix il- The Negative Prefix il- The Negative Prefix il- By Maeve Maddox From a reader commenting on the illegal alien post: I used to hear from my history teacher in high school that the word illegal isnt actually a word. I never followed up on that notion, but I suppose from popular usage, illegal has become legitimized. Do you have any etymological info on that? The word illegal with the sense of â€Å"not legal or lawful† has been in English since 1626. Similar words existed in Middle English and French as early as the fourteenth century. The expression illegal immigrant dates from 1939 during the British mandate in Palestine. The term was applied to Jews who entered Palestine without authorization. The word illegal derives ultimately from Latin: legalis â€Å"legal† with the negative prefix in-. The n of the prefix assimilates to l in words that begin with l: illegal: not legal or lawful illegible: not legible; incapable of being read illegitimate: not recognized by law as lawful offspring; not rightly deduced; departing from the expected illiberal: not liberal; not generous; not broad-minded illicit: not permitted; not allowed illimitable: not capable of being limited or bounded illiterate: unable to read or write illogical: not logical; contrary to logic Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Spelling category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:50 Handy Expressions About Hands30 Baseball IdiomsKn- Words in English