unborn

English

Etymology

From Middle English unborn, from Old English unboren, from Proto-Germanic *unburanaz. Equivalent to un- +‎ born.

Adjective

unborn (not comparable)

1. Not yet born; yet to come; future.
2. Not yet delivered; still existing in the mother's womb.
3. Existing without birth or beginning.

Synonyms

• (not born): coming; see also Thesaurus:future

Derived terms

• innocent as the babe unborn
• innocent as the child unborn
• unborn child

 

Translations

not born

• Bulgarian: нероден (neroden)
• Catalan: nonat
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 未出生的 (wèi chūshēng de)

• Danish: ufødt
• Dutch: ongeboren (nl)
• Finnish: syntymätön (fi)
• German: ungeboren (de)
• Gothic: 𐌿𐌽𐌱𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌰𐌽𐍃 (unbaurans)
• Greek: αγέννητος (el) (agénnitos)

  Ancient: ἀγενής (agenḗs)

• Japanese: まだ生まれていない (まだうまれていない, mada umarete inai)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: ufødt (no)

• Old English: unboren
• Portuguese: futuro (pt)
• Russian: нерождённый (ru) (neroždjónnyj), нероди́вшийся (nerodívšijsja)
• Swedish: ofödd (sv)
• Ukrainian: ненаро́джений (nenaródženyj)

still in mother's womb

• Catalan: nonat
• Czech: nenarozený
• Danish: ufødt
• Dutch: ongeboren (nl)
• Finnish: syntymätön (fi)
• French: à naître (fr)
• German: ungeboren (de)
• Greek: αγέννητος (el) (agénnitos)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: ufødt (no)

• Old English: unboren
• Portuguese: não-nascido
• Swedish: ofödd (sv)
• Ukrainian: ненаро́джений (nenaródženyj)

without beginning

• Catalan: nonat
• Greek: αγέννητος (el) (agénnitos)

Noun

unborn (countable and uncountable, plural unborns)

1. (countable) A single unborn offspring at any stage of gestation.
   • 2009, Catherine Playoust, Ellen Bradshaw Aitken, “The Leaping Child: Imagining the Unborn in Early Christian Literature”, in Vanessa R. Sasson, Jane Marie Law, editors, Imagining the Fetus: The Unborn in Myth, Religion, and Culture, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 176:

     Whereas the lack of a child brings shame upon Anna and Joachim, the converse holds true for Mary: the existence of an unborn in the womb of a woman who is supposed to be a virgin causes great scandal.

2. (uncountable) Unborn offspring collectively.

   Inheritance law allows property to be left to the unborn.

Quotations

• For more quotations using this term, see Citations:unborn.