unbeknownst

English

WOTD – 23 June 2012

Etymology

c. 1636: probably from unbeknown +‎ -st

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌʌnbɪˈnoʊnst/

• Audio (AU)

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• Audio (US)

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Adverb

unbeknownst (not comparable)

1. (followed by to) without the knowledge of

   He went home early, unbeknownst to his mother.

   • 2017 August 27, Brandon Nowalk, “Game Of Thrones slows down for the longest, and best, episode of the season (newbies)”, in The Onion AV Club‎^[1]:

     Theon’s redemption scene convincingly threatens to kill him right there on the beaches of Dragonstone, dying for a good cause unbeknownst to anyone but the rapscallions who watched him die, but at last it swerves into something genuinely heroic.

Synonyms

• unbeknown, unknown

Translations

Without the knowledge of

• Arabic: مُبْهَم m (mubham)
• Bulgarian: непознат (bg) (nepoznat)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Danish: uden ngns vidende (literally “without sb's knowledge”)
• Dutch: buiten medeweten van
• Esperanto: nesciate de
• Finnish: tietämättä (to = genitive)
• French: à l’insu de (fr)
• German: ohne Wissen
• Greek: εν αγνοία (el) (en agnoía)
• Hungarian: tudtán kívül, tudta nélkül
• Irish: gan fhios
• Italian: all'insaputa (it) (di)
• Polish: bez wiedzy
• Portuguese: sem o conhecimento de
• Russian: без ве́дома (ru) (bez védoma)
• Spanish: (literally) sin el conocimiento de m, desconocido (es) m
• Swedish: någon ovetande, någon ovetandes (=unbeknownst to somebody)
• Welsh: heb yn wybod i