Indecomposable

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ˌɪndiːkəmˈpəʊzəbəl/

Definitions

1. A quality of things that do not allow for further division into simpler units
2. Incapable of being split into smaller or simpler components
3. Describes an object or concept that cannot be further simplified by division

Etymology: The prefix "in-" here is the ordinary negating one, meaning "not," and the word is simply that negation applied to "decomposable," which itself is built from "de-" (apart) and "compose" (to put together), so the whole chain runs from the idea of putting parts together to the idea of taking them apart and then to the idea of resisting that process. Something decomposable can be broken back into its constituents, and something indecomposable cannot. The "in-" element has a long pedigree in English. It came into Middle English from Latin, where it had the same negating sense, and it is related to the Proto-Indo-European root for "not" that underlies many negative prefixes across the Indo-European languages. The "-able" ending traces through Old French and Latin "-abilis," a suffix that means "capable of being," so the word literally describes something capable of not being decomposed.

Synonyms: indivisible

Antonyms: composable, divisible