Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “unwise” come from?

Unwise comes from Old English unwīs, a compound of un- and wīs meaning "not wise."

unwise (English): Not wise; lacking wisdom

Definitions

  1. Not wise; lacking wisdom

Ancestry of “unwise”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishunwis—
2Old Englishunwīsunwise, foolish, ignorant, uninformed, insane
3Old Englishun-negation or absence of: un-, non-; bad; forms...
4Proto-Germanicand-—
5Proto-Indo-Europeanh₂éntiopposite; near; in front
6Proto-Indo-Europeanh₂éntsforehead; front
7Proto-Indo-Europeanh₂ent-face; forehead; front
8Proto-Indo-Europeanh₂en-on, onto

Words derived from “unwise”

  • unwiseness
Every word from Proto-Indo-European h₂en- →