Uninhabitable

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ˌʌnɪnˈhæbɪtəbəl/

Definitions

1. Unsuitable or impossible for human occupation or residence due to extreme environmental conditions or lack of necessary resources
2. Not capable of supporting human life or habitation due to extreme conditions or insufficient essential resources
3. Incapable of being lived in by people because of harsh environments or the absence of vital necessities for survival

Etymology: "Uninhabitable" is a plain compound: the prefix "un-", meaning "not," attached to "inhabitable," which describes something that can be lived in. The prefix has a long pedigree in English, descending through Old English from a Germanic root that also gave German "un-" and Dutch "on-," and it has been used to negate adjectives for over a thousand years. "Inhabitable" itself is built from "inhabit," which comes from Latin "inhabitare," meaning "to dwell in," from "in-" plus "habitare," to live or stay, the same stem that gives "habit" and "habitat." What makes the word useful is how neatly it fits the older root. Its sense of "not fit to be lived in" depends entirely on the idea of habitation, so a place that is merely unpleasant is not uninhabitable; it must be too harsh or too barren for people to live there at all. The word therefore carries a practical judgment about survival rather than comfort, which is why it appears so often in discussions of disaster zones, polluted sites and other worlds.

Synonyms: unlivable, unusable

Antonyms: habitable, livable