FromMiddle English un- Old English un- Proto-West Germanic *un- Proto-Germanic *un- Proto-Indo-European *n̥- 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- Latin in- Ancient Greek ἀ- ( a- ) (whenceEnglish a- Greek α- ( a- ) ) andSanskrit अ- ( a- ) .
Doublet ofin- a-
un-
( added to adjectives or past participles ) un- + educated uneducated ( “ not educated ” ) ( added to nouns ) un- + conformity unconformity ( “ lack of conformity ” ) ( added to nouns ) traditional norms;unconventional un- + conference unconference Some words formed in this way may also have counterparts usingin- non- Additionally, almost all of the unsorted terms in the following category belong to this sense:
Note: Words using the prefixun- do not necessarily use the prefixes given here when translated. See individual words for more accurate translations.
denoting absence
Afrikaans:on- Albanian:nuk ka Armenian:ան- ( an- ) ,չ- ( čʻ- ) ,դժ- ( dž- ) ,տ- ( t- ) Belarusian:мала- ( mala- ) Bulgarian:малко (bg) ( malko ) Catalan:in- (ca) Chinese:Mandarin:不- ( bù- ) Dutch:on- (nl) Esperanto:mal- (eo) ,ne- sen- (eo) Faroese:ó- Finnish:-ton (fi) French:in- (fr) ,mal (fr) ,non- (fr) Galician:in- (gl) Georgian:არა- ( ara- ) ,უ- -ო ( u- -o ) ,უ- ( u- ) German:un- (de) Greek:α- (el) ( a- ) Ancient:ἀ- ( a- ) Icelandic:ó- Italian:in- (it) Kapampangan:e- Latin:in- Luxembourgish:on- Norwegian:u- (no) Old Norse:ú- ó- Persian:بیـ بی (fa) Polish:nie- (pl) Portuguese:in- (pt) Romanian:ne- (ro) ,i- 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) Esperanto:mal- (eo) ,ne- sen- (eo) Faroese:ó- Finnish:-ton (fi) ,epä- (fi) French:in- (fr) ,non- (fr) ,sans (fr) Galician:in- (gl) Georgian:უ- ( u- ) German:un- (de) Greek:α- (el) ( a- ) Hungarian:-talan /-telen -atlan /-etlen -tlan /-tlen Icelandic:ó- Kapampangan:emika- emiki- emi- Korean:무- ( mu- ) 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- (bn) ( o- ) Bulgarian:не- ( ne- ) Catalan:in- (ca) Chinese:Mandarin:不 (zh) ( bù ) ,無 / 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- (gl) German:un- (de) Greek:αντι- (el) ( anti- ) Icelandic:ó- Japanese:不- ( ふ, fu ) ,反- ( はん, han ) ,無- ( む, mu ) Javanese:ora (jv) Kapampangan:e- Korean:불- ( bul- ) ,반- ( ban- ) 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- )
FromMiddle English on- Old English on- ond- and- ( “ against, facing, toward; in return, back, without ” ) , fromProto-West Germanic *anda- Proto-Germanic *anda- *andi- ( “ against ” ) , fromProto-Indo-European *h₂énti ( “ across, forth, forward, ahead ” ) , from*h₂énts ( “ end, limit, forehead ” ) . In some cases the meaning is influenced byun- ( “ not ” ,etymology 1 ) .
un-
( added to verbs ) inverse of a specified actionun- + dress undress ( “ to take one's clothes off ” ) un- + lock unlock ( “ to undo the locking of ” ) 1996 Secrets , performed by Toni Braxton:Un -cry these tears I cried so many nightsUn -break my heart
2020 March 14, Lindsay del Valle, “36 Spanish Prefixes That Will Increase Your Vocabulary Times 100!”, inHomeschool Spanish Academy [1] A prefix is an affix that joins to the beginning of another word. Depending on the prefix, it can slightly or significantly alter the meaning of a word. For example, the English prefix “un- ” changes a word into its opposite, as from “do” to “undo,” altering its meaning entirely.
( added to nouns to form verbs ) deprive of,release from,free from,remove from,extract fromun- + cage uncage ( “ to release from a cage ” ) un- + tangle untangle ( “ to remove the tangling of ” ) ( rare ) intensifying a verb that already suggests opposition or removal un- + loosen unloosen un- + decipher undecipher un- + thaw unthaw Only certain verbs can takeun- to form a new word with the opposite meaning. In particular, verbs that describe an irreversible action produce words often considerednonsense , e.g.unkill unspend unlose unring Although this prefix andEtymology 1 are homonymous and semantically similar (both relating to negation), they generally do not collide as they apply to different parts of speech. Ambiguity can however be caused when used with other derivational affixes; for instanceunlockable unlock -able ( “ possible to unlock ” ) orun- lockable ( “ impossible to lock ” ) . Synonyms such asnon-lockable may express one or the other sense more unambiguously.It is possible for a word to contain both prefixes, e.g.unundoable NOTE: Words using the prefixun- do not necessarily use the prefixes given here when translated. See individual words for more accurate translations.
FromLatin ūnus
un-
( chemistry ) one to formsystematic element names ofelements 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 ” ) Used to form large numbers as the first in the sequence.un- + decillion ( “ 1033 ” ) → undecillion ( “ 1036 ” ) un- + vigintillion ( “ 1063 ” ) → unvigintillion ( “ 1066 ” ) Fromunn
un-
mono- uni- un- + gweyth ( “ instance ” ) → unweyth ( “ once ” ) un- + tu ( “ side ” ) → untu ( “ one-sided, unilateral ” ) FromMiddle High German un- Old High German un- Proto-West Germanic *un- Proto-Germanic *un- Proto-Indo-European *n̥-
IPA (key ) : /ʊn/ ,[ʔʊn] IPA (key ) : /ʊŋ/ ( before/k/ ,/ɡ/ ; substandard, but common ) IPA (key ) : /ʊm/ ( before/p/ ,/b/ ; nonstandard, slightly less common; causes merger withum- ) Inderivatives , the prefix usually carries the stress, though there are exceptions to this. un-
un- ( denoting absence, a lack of; violative of; contrary to ) grave ;bad ;horrifying un- + Ding ( “ thing ” ) → Unding ( “ something unacceptable ” ) un- + Fall ( “ case, situation ” ) → Unfall ( “ accident ” ) un- + Mensch ( “ human being ” ) → Unmensch ( “ brute, barbarian ” ) un- + Tier ( “ animal ” ) → Untier ( “ beast, monster ” ) un- + Wetter ( “ weather ” ) → Unwetter ( “ storm, severe weather ” ) un-
romanization of𐌿𐌽- un-
Rōmaji transcription ofうん CompareGerman an- Dutch aan- English on-
un-
prefixed form ofun ( “ at, on ” ) at ,to ,toward on ,up used to make certain intransitive verbs transitive léien ( “ to tell a lie ” ) + un- → uléien ( “ to lie to someone ” ) The prefix is contracted tou- Fromun ( “ one, single ” ) .
un-
uni- ,mono- ,one CategoryManx terms prefixed with un- not found
FromOld English un- Proto-West Germanic *un- Proto-Germanic *un- Proto-Indo-European *n̥-
un-
not, un- un- + frendly unfrendly ( “ unfriendly ” ) FromProto-West Germanic *un- Proto-Germanic *un- Proto-Indo-European *n̥- *né ( “ not ” ) . Cognate withOld 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 ofAncient Greek ἀ- ( a- ) ,Latin in- Old Irish in-
un-
negation orabsence 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- + fæġer ( “ beautiful ” ) → unfæġer ( “ ugly ” ) un- + ġewǣpnod ( “ armed ” ) → unġewǣpnod ( “ unarmed ” ) un- + nytt ( “ useful ” ) → unnytt ( “ useless ” ) un- + sċyldiġ ( “ guilty ” ) → unsċyldiġ ( “ innocent ” ) un- + rīpe ( “ mature ” ) → unrīpe ( “ immature ” ) un- + wita ( “ knower ” ) → unwita ( “ idiot ” ) bad ( added to nouns to denote a pejorative sense; comparemis- mal- ) un- + dǣd ( “ action ” ) → undǣd ( “ crime ” ) un- + hlīsa ( “ fame ” ) → unhlīsa ( “ infamy ” ) un- + lǣċe ( “ doctor ” ) → unlǣċe ( “ quack ” ) un- + lyft ( “ air ” ) → unlyft (“malaria,” lit. “bad air”)un- + mann ( “ person ” ) → unmann ( “ thug ” ) un- + rǣd ( “ advice ” ) → unrǣd ( “ bad advice ” ) un- + stenċ ( “ smell ” ) → unstenċ ( “ stench ” ) un- + swefn ( “ dream ” ) → unswefn ( “ bad dream ” ) un- + tīma ( “ time ” ) → untīma ( “ wrong time ” ) un- + þēaw ( “ habit ” ) → unþēaw ( “ vice ” ) un- + weder ( “ weather ” ) → unweder ( “ bad weather ” ) Originally an alternative form ofon- Proto-Germanic *and- Old Frisian und- Old Saxon ant- Old High German ant- German ent-
un-
forms verbs from verbs, with an opposite or reversive sense FromProto-West Germanic *un- Proto-Germanic *un- Proto-Indo-European *n̥- *né ( “ not ” ) . The Indo-European root is also the source ofAncient Greek ἀ- ( a- ) ,Latin in- Old Irish in-
un-
un- ; prefix ofnegation ,absence orcontrariness 
