说不出的——大到、深到、圣到言语接不住的那种；「无以名状」的学名。 Too great, too deep, too holy for words to carry — the proper name of the unnameable.
Too great, too deep, too holy for words to carry — the proper name of the unnameable. 说不出的——大到、深到、圣到言语接不住的那种；「无以名状」的学名。
词源etymology
拉丁语 in-（不）＋ effabilis（可说出的）← effari（说出）← fari（说）。 fari 是个高产的根：fate 是「已被说出的」（命运即神谕），fable 是「被讲述的」， ineffable 是「说不出的」——命运、寓言、无言，同一个「说」字养的三兄弟。
Latin in- (not) + effabilis (utterable) ← effari (to speak out) ← fari (to speak). A prolific root: fate is “what has been spoken” (destiny as decree), a fable is “what is told,” and the ineffable is “what cannot be said” — destiny, story and silence, three brothers raised by one verb.
背景the story
14 世纪末进入英语，先在神学里当班：中世纪传统里，神的圣名不可读出—— the ineffable name。此后它一路下放：神秘主义者的狂喜、康德之后的崇高、 游客面对峡谷的失语，都归它管。
对词匣而言它是第三枚元词：lacuna 指语言的缺口，palimpsest 指覆写的旧迹， ineffable 指「说不出」本身——整个匣子收的都是 ineffable 的东西， 而「说不出」这件事，居然说得出。
In English from the late 14th century, first on theological duty: in the medieval tradition the divine name was not to be uttered — the ineffable name. It has been demobilizing ever since: mystics’ raptures, the post-Kantian sublime, tourists struck dumb at the canyon rim all file under it.
For this box it is the third meta-word: lacuna names the language’s gap, palimpsest the overwritten trace, ineffable the unsayable itself — everything this box collects is ineffable, and “unsayable,” it turns out, can be said.
中文里的邻居neighbors in chinese
中文这排货架极满：「无以名状」「不可名状」「妙不可言」「只可意会，不可言传」， 佛家还有加倍的「不可说」。分工却有偏向：中文的不可言说多派给妙—— 意会的那头是会心；ineffable 兼收另一头——numinous 式的战栗与庄严也归它。 一边偏赏玩，一边兼敬畏。
The Chinese shelf is fully stocked: 无以名状, 不可名状, 妙不可言, 只可意会不可言传, and Buddhism’s doubled 不可说. But the assignments lean: Chinese unsayability is mostly issued to the exquisite — what defeats words delights the mind. ineffable also works the other wing — the numinous shudder, the solemn too-much. One tradition leans appreciation; the other covers awe as well.
The canyon at first light reduced the tour group to ineffable grunts. 自拟例句 our own example, not a quotation What she felt at the gate wasn't sadness exactly; it was ineffable, which is why she said nothing and bought coffee. 自拟例句 our own example, not a quotation 词典词（MW／OED），正式写作通用，略带庄重。 写「ineffable joy」这类搭配已近套话——让它守在真正接不住话的地方，词才值钱。
A dictionary word (MW/OED), good anywhere formal, with a ceremonial grain. “Ineffable joy” has worn to a groove — post the word only where language genuinely drops the catch, and it keeps its value.