"U" Word Origins

unhopeful

Origin

From Middle English unhopful, unhopfulle, equivalent to un- + hopeful.

unhuman

Origin

From un- + human.

unhurriedness

Origin

From unhurried + -ness.

unhurt

Middle English

From Middle English unhurt, simply un- ("not") added to hurt.

uni

Japanese

The university sense is simply a shortening of "university". The sushi sense comes from Japanese uni, referring to sea urchin roe.

UNICEF

Origin

An acronym from its original name, the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund; it kept the name UNICEF even after being renamed the United Nations Children's Fund.

unicorn

Latin · 2013

From Latin unicornis, literally "one-horned" (unus, "one" + cornu, "horn"). The billion-dollar-startup meaning was coined by venture capitalist Aileen Lee in 2013 to describe how rare such companies were.

unicycle

Origin

Built from uni- ("one") + cycle, on the model of "bicycle" and "tricycle".

unidenticality

Origin

From un- + identicality.

unidentified

Origin

From un- ("not") + identified.

unification

Origin

From unify plus the noun-forming suffix -ification, describing the process of making something unified.

uniform

Latin

From Middle French uniforme, from Latin uniformis, literally "having one form".

uniformed

Origin

From uniform + -ed.

uniformity

Origin

From Late Middle English uniformite, uniformitie (“conformity or equality among several parts; similar degree”), borrowed from Old French uniformité (“uniformity”) (modern French uniformité), or from its etymon Late Latin ūniformitās, from Latin ūnifōrmis (“having only one form or shape, uniform”) + -itās (a variant of -tās (suffix forming feminine abstract nouns indicating a state of being)). Ūnifōrmis is derived from ūni- (prefix meaning ‘one’) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁óynos (“one”)) + -fōrmis (suffix meaning having the form of) (from fōrma (“appearance, form, shape”); further etymology unknown). By surface analysis, uniform + -ity.

unify

Late Latin

From Middle French unifier, from Late Latin unificare.

unilateral

New Latin · 1802

Coined around 1802 from New Latin unilateralis, from Latin unus ("one") + lateralis ("sided").

unimaginable

Origin

From un- + imagine + -able.

unimaginably

Origin

From unimaginable + -ly.

unimportant

Origin

From un- + important.

unimpressed

Origin

From un- + impressed.

unincorporate

Origin

From un- + incorporate.

uninformed

Origin

From un- + informed.

uninhabitable

Origin

From un- + inhabitable.

uninhabited

Origin

From un- + inhabited.

uninhibited

Origin

From un- + inhibited.

uninjured

Origin

From un- + injured.

uninspired

Origin

From un- + inspired.

uninstall

Origin

From un- + install.

unintelligible

Origin

From un- + intelligible.

unintended

Origin

From un- + intended.

unintentional

Origin

From un- + intentional.

unintentionally

Origin

From unintentional + -ly.

uninterested

Origin

From un- + interested.

uninteresting

Origin

From un- + interesting.

unintermitted

Origin

From un- + intermitted.

uninterrupted

Origin

From un- + interrupted.

unintuitive

Origin

From un- + intuitive.

uninvited

Origin

From un- + invited.

union

Late Latin

From Old French union, from Late Latin unio ("oneness, unity"), from Latin unus ("one").

unionized

Origin

From unionize, from union + -ize.

unique

Latin

Borrowed from French unique, from Latin unicus ("only, sole").

uniquely

Origin

From unique + -ly.

uniqueness

Origin

From unique + -ness.

unisex

Origin

From uni- ("one, single") + sex.

unisexuality

Origin

From unisexual + -ity.

UNISON

Latin

From Old French unisson, ultimately from Latin unus ("one") + sonus ("sound") — literally "one sound".

unit

Origin

Originally a variant of "unity", later specialized to mean a single standard measure or item.

unitard

Origin

Blend of uni- + leotard.