Where does “unprovoked” come from?

Unprovoked derives from English provoke (to incite), un- (not), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European h₂ent- (front, before), through Latin unus (one) and intermediate Proto-Indo-European forms.

unprovoked (English): Happening without provocation or motivation;...

Definitions

  1. Happening without provocation or motivation;...

Ancestry of “unprovoked”, 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 “unprovoked”

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