Where does “un-” come from?

un- (Old High German) comes from Proto-West Germanic un-, from Proto-Germanic un-, from Proto-Indo-European n̥-, from Proto-Indo-European ne — not.

un- (Old High German): un-; prefix of negation, absence or contrariness

Definitions

  1. un-; prefix of negation, absence or contrariness

Ancestry of “un-”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Proto-West Germanicun-not, un-
2Proto-Germanicun-not, un-
3Proto-Indo-Europeann̥-not, un-
4Proto-Indo-Europeannenot

Words derived from “un-”

Every word from Proto-Indo-European ne →Every word from Proto-Indo-European n̥- →Every word from Proto-Germanic un- →