untold

== English == === Etymology === From Old English unteald (“not counted or reckoned”), from tellan (“count, relate, tell”). === Pronunciation === (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ʌnˈtəʊld/ (General American) IPA(key): /ʌnˈtoʊld/ (General Australian) IPA(key): /anˈtəʉld/ Homophone: untolled Rhymes: -əʊld === Adjective === untold (not comparable) Not told; not related; not revealed; secret. Not numbered or counted. Not able to be counted, measured, told, expressed in words, or described; extremely large in scale, number, quantity, suffering, damage, etc.; uncountable, unmeasurable, immeasurable, indescribable, inexpressible. ==== Usage notes ==== The "inexpressible" sense of untold is pragmatic; it is determined only by context. This use is common in Lovecraftian and Gothic Horror genres, where stories focus mainly on incomprehensible or indescribable things, and so are rendered inexpressible by their characters. Typically, these characters will speak of untold "treasures" or "suffering", or other things of indefinite but immense magnitude.