Where does “unknown” come from?
Unknown derives from English un- plus known, which comes from Proto-Indo-European ǵneh₃- meaning to know, via the negating prefix ne-.
unknown (English): Not known; unidentified; not well known; A...
Definitions
- Not known; unidentified; not well known; A...
Ancestry of “unknown”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | English | un- | not; absent; lacking; not; negative; contrary to... |
| 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 |
Words derived from “unknown”