Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “unwashed” come from?

Unwashed comes from Middle English unwasched, from Middle English unwaschen, the negative form of waschen meaning to wash.

unwashed (English): Not having been washed; Vulgar, plebeian, lowbrow

Definitions

  1. Not having been washed; Vulgar, plebeian, lowbrow

Ancestry of “unwashed”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishunwasched—
2Middle Englishunwaschenunwashen
3Englishwashedsimple past tense and past participle of wash

Words derived from “unwashed”

  • unwashedness
Every word from English washed →