Where does “unlovely” come from?

Unlovely is a Middle English formation from un- plus lovely, meaning not beautiful or attractive in appearance.

unlovely (English): unattractive, ugly

Definitions

  1. unattractive, ugly

Ancestry of “unlovely”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishunlovelyunattractive, ugly
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 “unlovely”

Every word from Proto-Indo-European ne →Every word from Proto-Indo-European n̥- →Every word from Old English un- →