unclean

English

Etymology

From Middle English unclene, from Old English unclǣne, equivalent to un- +‎ clean.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʌnˈkliːn/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːn

Adjective

unclean (comparative uncleaner, superlative uncleanest)

1. Dirty, soiled or foul.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:unclean

   • 1913, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Return of Tarzan, New York: Ballantine Books, published 1963, page 194:

     They were gnawing, like beasts, upon unclean food. A pot boiled upon the edge of the fire, and out of it one of the creatures would occasionally drag a hunk of meat with a sharpened stick.

2. Not moral or chaste.
3. Ritually or ceremonially impure or unfit.

Derived terms

• unclean hands

Translations

dirty, soiled or foul

• Bulgarian: мръсен (bg) (mrǎsen)
• Catalan: brut (ca)
• Danish: urenlig
• Dutch: onrein (nl)
• Estonian: must (et), räpane
• Finnish: likainen (fi), epäpuhdas (fi)
• Gothic: 𐌿𐌽𐌷𐍂𐌰𐌹𐌽𐍃 (unhrains), 𐌲𐌰𐍅𐌰𐌼𐌼𐍃 (gawamms)
• Greek:

  Ancient: ἀκάθαρτος (akáthartos)

• Irish: neamhghlan
• Latin: impūrus
• Latvian: netīrs (lv)
• Manx: neuglen
• Maori: poke (mi), paru, paruparu, maniheko
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: ureinslig, urenslig

  Nynorsk: ureinsleg

• Ottoman Turkish: پیس (pis), مردار (murdar)
• Pashto: سخا (ps) (sxâ), خيرن (ps) (xirën)
• Plautdietsch: orrein
• Polish: nieczysty (pl)
• Portuguese: sujo (pt)
• Rapa Nui: havahava
• Romanian: murdar (ro)
• Russian: нечи́стый (ru) (nečístyj), гря́зный (ru) (grjáznyj)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: нѐчист, пр̏љав

  Roman: nèčist (sh), pȑljav (sh)

• Sundanese: lolo
• Swedish: smutsig (sv), oren (sv)

not moral or chaste

• Bulgarian: неморален (bg) (nemoralen)
• Catalan: impur (ca)
• Dutch: onrein (nl)
• Estonian: räpane
• Finnish: likainen (fi)
• French: impur (fr)
• German: unrein (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: ἀκάθαρτος (akáthartos)

• Latvian: nešķīsts, neķītrs
• Maore Comorian: -a peu
• Pashto: سخا (ps) (sxâ)
• Plautdietsch: orrein
• Polish: nieczysty (pl)
• Portuguese: impuro (pt)
• Romanian: imoral (ro), necurat (ro)
• Russian: амора́льный (ru) (amorálʹnyj), непристо́йный (ru) (nepristójnyj), гря́зный (ru) (grjáznyj), по́шлый (ru) (póšlyj)
• Swedish: oren (sv), snuskig (sv)

ritually or ceremonially impure or unfit

• Bulgarian: нечестив (bg) (nečestiv)
• Dutch: onrein (nl)
• Finnish: saastainen (fi), epäpuhdas (fi)
• French: impur (fr)
• German: unrein (de), gemein (de) (archaic)
• Greek:

  Ancient: κοινός (koinós)

• Hebrew: טָמֵא (he) (tamé)
• Hungarian: tisztátalan (hu)
• Maore Comorian: -a ntsama
• Plautdietsch: orrein
• Polish: nieczysty (pl)
• Swahili: -chafu (sw), najisi

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Woiwurrung: ^{(please verify)} intarr-worra-baleen