un-

See also: Appendix:Variations of "un"

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English un-, from Old English 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

un-

1. (added to adjectives or past participles) not

   unannounced — “not being announced”

   uneducated — “not educated”

   unattractive — “not attractive”

   unconstitutional — “not constitutional”

2. (added to nouns) absent; lacking; not; negative

   ungrace (“lack of grace, gracelessness”)

   unrest (“a lack of rest (peace); war”)

   unhope (“despair”)

   unfriend (“enemy”)

   unrepair

   unluck (“misfortune”)

   unnova

   uncertainty (“lack or absence of certainty”)

3. (added to nouns) contrary to or contrasted against traditional norms; unconventional; alternative

   unconference

   unmethod

Usage notes

• Some words formed in this way may also have counterparts using in- or non-.

Derived terms

English terms prefixed with un-

Translations

NOTE: Words using the prefix un- do not necessarily use the prefixes given here when translated. See individual words for more accurate translations.

denoting absence

• Armenian: ան- (an-), չ- (čʻ-), դժ- (dž-), տ- (t-)
• Catalan: in- (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 不- (bù-)

• Dutch: on- (nl)
• Faroese: ó-
• Finnish: -ton (fi)
• French: in- (fr), mal (fr), non- (fr)
• Galician: in-
• German: un- (de)
• Greek: α- (el) (a-)

  Ancient: ἀ- (a-)

• Icelandic: ó-
• Italian: in- (it)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Latin: in-
• Luxembourgish: on-
• Norwegian: u- (no)
• Old Norse: ú-, ó-
• Polish: nie- (pl)
• Portuguese: in- (pt)
• Romanian: ne- (ro)
• Russian: не- (ru) (ne-)
• Scottish Gaelic: ao-, mì-, neo-, eu-, do-, an-
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: nje-

• Spanish: in- (es)
• Swedish: o- (sv), van- (sv)

denoting a lack of

• Armenian: ան- (an-), չ- (čʻ-), դժ- (dž-), տ- (t-)
• Catalan: in- (ca)
• Faroese: ó-
• Finnish: -ton (fi), epä- (fi)
• French: in- (fr), non- (fr)
• Galician: in-
• Georgian: უ- (u-)
• German: un- (de)
• Greek: α- (el) (a-)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Icelandic: ó-
• Polish: bez- (pl), nie- (pl)
• Portuguese: in- (pt), des- (pt)
• Russian: без- (ru) (bez-), бес- (ru) (bes-), не- (ru) (ne-)
• Scottish Gaelic: ao-, mì-, neo-, eu-, do-
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: nje-

• Spanish: in- (es)
• Swedish: o- (sv)

violative of; contrary to

• Afrikaans: on-
• Albanian: pa-
• Armenian: հակա- (haka-)
• Azerbaijani: na-
• Basque: -a (eu)
• Belarusian: не- (nje-)
• Bengali: অ- (a-)
• Bulgarian: не- (ne-)
• Catalan: in- (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 不 (zh) (bù), 無／无 (zh), 无 (zh) (wú)

• Czech: ne- (cs)
• Danish: u- (da)
• Dutch: on- (nl)
• Esperanto: mal- (eo)
• Finnish: epä- (fi)
• French: anti- (fr), in- (fr), non- (fr)
• Galician: anti-
• German: un- (de)
• Greek: αντι- (el) (anti-)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Icelandic: ó-
• Japanese: 不 (ja) (ふ, fu), 無 (ja) (む, mu)
• Javanese: ora (jv)
• Lao: ບໍ່- (bǭ-)
• Macedonian: не- (ne-)
• Polish: nie- (pl)
• Portuguese: in- (pt), anti- (pt), não- (pt)
• Russian: не- (ru) (ne-)
• Scottish Gaelic: an-, mì-
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: не-

  Roman: ne-

• Slovak: ne-
• Slovene: ne-
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: nje-

• Spanish: in- (es)
• Swedish: o- (sv), anti- (sv)
• Ukrainian: не- (ne-)

Etymology 2

From Middle English on-, from Old English ond-, and- (“against, facing, toward; in return, back, without”), from Proto-Germanic *anda-, *andi- (“against”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂énti (“across, forth, forward, ahead”), from *h₂ént- (“end, limit, forehead”). More at and-.

Prefix

un-

1. (added to verbs and nouns to form verbs) reverse, opposite

   to undress — “to take one's clothes off”

   to unwind — “to reverse a winding”

   to unlock — “to undo the locking of”

   • 1996, Diane Warren (writer), Toni Braxton (singer), “Un-Break My Heart”, Secrets, LaFace

     Un-cry these tears I cried so many nights / Un-break my heart

2. release, free, remove, extract.

   to uncage — “to release from a cage”

   to untangle — “to remove the tangling of”

Usage notes

• Only certain words can take un- to form a new word with the opposite meaning. In particular, verbs that describe an irreversible action produce words often considered nonsense, e.g. unkill, unspend, unlose, unring. These words may nevertheless be in occasional use for humorous or other effect.

Synonyms

• (opposite): anti-, in-, non-
• (release): de-, dis-, off-

Translations

NOTE: Words using the prefix un- do not necessarily use the prefixes given here when translated. See individual words for more accurate translations.

reversal or cancellation

• Armenian: ապ- (ap-)
• Dutch: ont- (nl)
• Esperanto: mal- (eo)
• French: dé- (fr), dés- (fr)
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: ent- (de)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Greek: απο- (el) (apo-)
• Icelandic: af-
• Italian: s- (it)
• Spanish: des- (es)
• Swedish: av- (sv)

Etymology 3

From Latin ūnus.

Prefix

un-

1. Used to form temporary names of elements (such as unbiunium) whose existence has been predicted, and have not yet been given a trivial name.

Synonyms

• -un-

References

• Definition of un- - Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

Anagrams

• NU, Nu, nu

---

German

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *un-, from Proto-Indo-European *n̥-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʊn/, [ʔʊn]
• In compounds, the prefix usually carries the stress, though there are exceptions to this.

Prefix

un-

1. un- (denoting absence, a lack of; violative of; contrary to)
2. grave; bad; horrifying

   ‎Ding (“thing”) + ‎un- → ‎Unding (“something unacceptable”)

   ‎Fall (“case, situation”) + ‎un- → ‎Unfall (“accident”)

   ‎Mensch (“human being”) + ‎un- → ‎Unmensch (“brute, barbarian”)

   ‎Tier (“animal”) + ‎un- → ‎Untier (“beast, monster”)

   ‎Wetter (“weather”) + ‎un- → ‎Unwetter (“storm, severe weather”)

Derived terms

German terms prefixed with un-

---

Gothic

Romanization

un-

1. Romanization of 𐌿𐌽-

---

Luxembourgish

Etymology

Compare German an-, Dutch aan-, English on-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /un/

Prefix

un-

1. prefixed form of un (“at, on”)
   1. at, to, toward
   2. on, up
   3. used to make certain intransitive verbs transitive

      ‎léien (“to tell a lie”) + ‎un- → ‎uléien (“to lie to someone”)

Usage notes

• The prefix is contracted to u- before non-alveolar consonants.

Derived terms

Luxembourgish terms prefixed with un-

---

Manx

Etymology

From un (“one, single”).

Prefix

un-

1. uni-, mono-, one

Derived terms

Manx terms prefixed with un-

---

Old English

Etymology 1

From Proto-Germanic *un-, from Proto-Indo-European *n̥-, a prefix use of the particle *ne (“not”). Cognate with Old Frisian un-, Old Saxon un-, Old Dutch un-, Old High German un-, Old Norse ó-, Gothic 𐌿𐌽- (un-). The Indo-European root is also the source of Ancient Greek ἀ- (a-), Latin in-, and Old Irish in-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈun/ (in both nouns and verbal derivatives)

Prefix

un-

1. negation or absence of: un-, non- (added to nouns and adjectives)

   ‎un- + ‎dēadlīċ (“mortal”) → ‎undēadlīċ (“immortal”)

   ‎un- + ‎dēop (“deep”) → ‎undēop (“shallow”)

   ‎un- + ‎dīere (“expensive”) → ‎undīere (“cheap”)

   ‎un- + ‎druncen (“drunk”) → ‎undruncen (“sober”)

   ‎un- + ‎ġewǣpnod (“armed”) → ‎unġewǣpnod (“unarmed”)

   ‎un- + ‎sċyldiġ (“guilty”) → ‎unsċyldiġ (“innocent”)

   ‎un- + ‎rīpe (“mature”) → ‎unrīpe (“immature”)

2. bad (added to nouns to denote a pejorative sense; compare mis-, mal-)

   ‎un- + ‎dǣd (“action”) → ‎undǣd (“crime”)

   ‎un- + ‎ġelimp (“event”) → ‎unġelimp (“accident”)

   ‎un- + ‎hlīsa (“fame”) → ‎unhlīsa (“infamy”)

   ‎un- + ‎lǣċe (“doctor”) → ‎unlǣċe (“bad doctor”)

   ‎un- + ‎lyft (“air”) → ‎unlyft (“malaria,” lit. “bad air”)

   ‎un- + ‎mann (“person”) → ‎unmann (“brute”)

   ‎un- + ‎rǣd (“advice”) → ‎unrǣd (“bad advice”)

   ‎un- + ‎stenċ (“smell”) → ‎unstenċ (“stench”)

   ‎un- + ‎swefn (“dream”) → ‎unswefn (“bad dream”)

   ‎un- + ‎tīma (“time”) → ‎untīma (“wrong time”)

   ‎un- + ‎weder (“weather”) → ‎unweder (“bad weather”)

   ‎un- + ‎þēaw (“habit”) → ‎unþēaw (“bad habit”)

Descendants

• Middle English: un-
  • Scots: un-
  • English: un-

Etymology 2

Originally an alternative form of on-, from Proto-Germanic *and-. Cognate with Old Frisian und-, Old Saxon ant-, Old High German ant- (German ent-).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /un/

Alternative forms

• on-

Prefix

un-

1. forms verbs from verbs, with an opposite or reversive sense

Derived terms

Old English terms prefixed with un-