Where does “unemployed” come from?

Unemployed derives from English employ plus the prefix un-, from Latin unus meaning "one," ultimately from Proto-Indo-European óynos and related roots expressing negation and being.

unemployed (English): Having no job despite being able and willing to...

Definitions

  1. Having no job despite being able and willing to...

Ancestry of “unemployed”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishUn-not
2Middle Englishun-—
3Old Englishun-negation or absence of: un-, non-; bad; forms...
4Proto-West Germanicun-not, un-
5Proto-Germanicun-not, un-
6Proto-Indo-Europeann̥-not, un-
7Proto-Indo-Europeannenot

Words derived from “unemployed”

Every word from Proto-Indo-European ne →Every word from English Un- →Every word from Proto-Indo-European n̥- →