Kilo Lingo

Line drawing of sensenca
Coloured illustration of sensenca
#1669 of 5,000 Core 5000

Translation

meaningless, nonsensical

Word origin

Built inside Esperanto from sen ('without'), the root senc- ('meaning', from Latin sensus) and the adjective ending -a. Nothing was borrowed whole: the word is assembled, and a learner who knows the three pieces can read it on sight.

Origin
Esperanto compound on a Latin root
Root
sen + senco + -a
English cognates
sense, sensible

Examples

.

Your words are utterly meaningless.

.

A plan like that is nonsensical and bad.

.

He wrote a long but nonsensical letter.

A textbook build: plus plus -a, so "without-meaning-ish". The preposition doing duty as a prefix is one of Esperanto's quiet economies, and the same trick gives senhoma, and senkulpa. Do not stretch it to cover the English word senseless in its other jobs. A person knocked out cold is senkonscia, and a brutal act is . is only ever about a thing that fails to mean anything.

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Esperanto · Free printables

sensenca: worksheet, infographic and listicle

Free printable study downloads for the Esperanto word "sensenca" (meaningless, nonsensical): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.

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This word is part of lesson 34.