undecidability
|un-de-ci-da-bi-li-ty|
🇺🇸
/ˌʌndɪsaɪdəˈbɪləti/
🇬🇧
/ˌʌndɪsaɪdəˈbɪlɪti/
not capable of being decided (often algorithmically)
Etymology
'undecidability' is formed in English by adding the suffix '-ity' to 'undecidable', where 'undecidable' is 'un-' + 'decidable'. 'decide' ultimately comes from Latin 'decidere' meaning 'to cut off, determine.' (『undecidability』は英語で『undecidable』に接尾辞『-ity』を付けて作られ、『undecidable』は接頭辞『un-』と『decidable』から成る。'decide'は最終的にラテン語の『decidere』(切り分ける・決定する)に由来する。)
'decidere' (Latin) > Old French/Latin derivative forms such as 'decider' > Middle English 'deciden'/'decide' > modern English 'decide'; 'undecidable' was coined by prefixing 'un-' to 'decidable', and the abstract noun 'undecidability' was formed later by adding '-ity', gaining prominence in the 20th century in mathematical logic and computer science. (『decidere』(ラテン語) が古フランス語や中世英語を経て現代英語の『decide』になった。『decidable』に接頭辞『un-』を付けて『undecidable』が作られ、さらに接尾辞『-ity』で抽象名詞『undecidability』が形成され、20世紀に数学的論理学や計算機科学で広く使われるようになった。)
Originally related to the simple notion of 'not able to be decided' in general English, the term specialized in the 20th century to a technical sense in logic and computability: 'no algorithm exists to decide the problem' (a stronger, formalized meaning). (元来は一般英語で「決定できない」という単純な意味だったが、20世紀に論理学・計算可能性の専門用語として「問題を決定するアルゴリズムが存在しない」というより強い形式的な意味に特化した。)
Meanings by Part of Speech
Noun 1
the state or quality of being impossible to decide or determine; inability to come to a definitive decision.
Her undecidability about which job to accept prolonged the hiring process.
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Noun 2
in logic and computability theory: the property of a decision problem for which no algorithm can determine membership for all inputs (i.e., there is no effective procedure that decides the problem).
The undecidability of the halting problem is a central result in computability theory.
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Last updated: 2025/12/14 19:12
