Unlabellable

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Impossible to assign a name, tag, or category to, because it resists being described or classified
2. So unusual or ambiguous that it cannot be placed under any label or fixed category
3. Resisting identification with a specific name or classification, and therefore hard to categorize at all

Etymology: The Old French "label" originally meant a ribbon or fringe. In heraldry it still names a horizontal band with hanging pendants laid across the top of a coat of arms, used to mark a difference such as a cadency. Medieval lawyers also hung strips of parchment from documents to carry seals. Its earlier origin is uncertain, with proposals pointing to a Germanic source but no firm answer. The sense of a label as a tag attached to an object came later, as things were tied, pinned or pasted with a name or description. Adding "-able" gives "labellable," meaning able to be labelled, and the prefix "un-" reverses it. Unlabellable therefore describes something that resists being given a name or category. The formation is transparent: "un-" plus "label" plus "-able," with the final "l" doubled in British spelling before the suffix.