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un-

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un-¹

  • /ʌn/ Canada, US, UK
  • /an/ Australia

Where it comes from

From Middle English un-, from Old English un-, from Proto-West Germanic *un-, from Proto-Germanic *un-, from Proto-Indo-European *n̥-. Cognate with Scots un-, on- (“un-”), North Frisian ün-, Saterland Frisian uun-, West Frisian ûn-, on-, Dutch on-, Low German un-, on-, German un-, Danish u-, Swedish o-, Norwegian u-, Icelandic ó-. More distant cognate with Latin in-, Ancient Greek ἀ- (a-) (whence English a-, modern Greek α- (a-)) and Sanskrit अ- (a-).

Doublet of in- and a-.

prefix on-

  1. morpheme, added to adjectives or past participles not un- + educated → uneducated (“not educated”)

    Similar: a-, an-, dys-, i-, il-, im-, in-, ir-, mal-, non-

  2. morpheme, added to nouns lack of un- + conformity → unconformity (“lack of conformity”)
  3. morpheme, added to nouns contrary to traditional norms; unconventional un- + conference → unconference

un-²

  • /ʌn/ Canada, US, UK
  • /an/ Australia

Where it comes from

From Middle English on-, from Old English on-, ond-, and- (“against, facing, toward; in return, back, without”), from Proto-West Germanic *anda-, from Proto-Germanic *anda-, *andi- (“against”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂énti (“across, forth, forward, ahead”), from *h₂énts (“end, limit, forehead”). In some cases the meaning is influenced by un- (“not”, etymology 1).

prefix

  1. morpheme, added to verbs the inverse of a specified action un- + dress → undress (“to take one's clothes off”)
  2. morpheme, added to nouns to form verbs deprive of, release from, free from, remove from, extract from un- + cage → uncage (“to release from a cage”)

    Similar: de-, dis-, off-

  3. morpheme, rare intensifying a verb that already suggests opposition or removal un- + loosen → unloosen

    Similar: anti-, in-, non-

un-³

  • /ʌn/ Canada, US, UK
  • /an/ Australia

prefix

  1. morpheme Used for the digit one to form systematic element names of elements whose existence has been predicted, and which have not yet been given a trivial name. un- (“1”) + bi- (“2”) + un- (“1”) + -ium (element suffix) → unbiunium (“element 121”)
  2. morpheme Used to form large numbers as the first in the sequence. un- + decillion (“10³³”) → undecillion (“10³⁶”)

Translations

Every language

prefix denoting a lack of

Españolin-
한국어무- mu-
Portuguêsin-, des-
Françaisin-, non-, sans
Deutschun-
Ελληνικάα- a-
Русскийбез- bez-, бес- bes-, не- ne-

prefix denoting absence

Españolin-, poco, nada
中文不- bù-
Portuguêsin-
Françaisin-, mal, non-
Deutschun-
Italianoin-
Ελληνικάα- a-
Românăne-, i-
Русскийне- ne-

prefix violative of; contrary to

Españolin-
한국어불- bul-, 반- ban-
日本語不- fu, 反- han, 無- mu
中文不 bù, 無 /无 wú
Portuguêsin-, anti-, não-
Françaisanti-, in-, non-
Deutschun-
Ελληνικάαντι- anti-
Русскийне- ne-

prefix reversal or cancellation

Españoldes-
Portuguêsdes-
Françaisdé-, dés-
Deutschent-
Italianos-
Ελληνικάαπο- apo-

Talk about this word

Cite this
MLA

"un-." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/un-. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

un-. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/un-

Chicago

"un-." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/un-.

BibTeX
@misc{un_2026,
  title = {un-},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/un-},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}