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
- Having no job despite being able and willing to...
Ancestry of “unemployed”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | English | Un- | — |
| 2 | Middle English | un- | — |
| 3 | Old English | un- | negation or absence of: un-, non-; bad; forms... |
| 4 | Proto-West Germanic | un- | not, un- |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | un- | not, un- |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | n̥- | not, un- |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | ne | not |