"U" Word Origins

umbethink

Origin

From Middle English umbethenken, from Old English ymbeþencan, ymbþencan (“to think about, consider, deliberate”), from ymb- (“around”) + þencan (“to think”), equivalent to um- + bethink or umbe- + think.

umbilical

Latin

From Latin "umbilicus", meaning "navel", plus the adjective suffix "-al".

umbrage

Origin

From Middle French ombrage (“umbrage”), from Old French ombrage, from Latin umbrāticus (“in the shade”), from umbra (“shadow, shade”).

umbrageous

Origin

From Middle French ombrageux, or from umbrage + -ous.

umbrella

Late Latin

From Italian "ombrella" ("parasol"), from Late Latin "umbrella", influenced by "umbra" meaning "shade" or "shadow".

umbrous

Origin

umbra + -ous

umbworld

Origin

From umb- (“around, about”) + world, a calque of German Umwelt (early 19th c.). Compare Dutch omwereld, Swedish omvärld, etc., also from the German.

ume

Japanese

From Japanese "ume".

UMP

French

Borrowed from French UMP (“Union pour un Mouvement Populaire”).

umpire

Old French

From a Middle English mishearing of "a noumper" as "an oumper" — the same kind of word-boundary shift that gave us "an apron" from "a napron." It ultimately traces to Old French nonper, "not equal," since an umpire is the odd, tie-breaking third party.

umpteen

Origin

From ump (“a colloquial name for the dash "—" in Morse code”) + -teen. Unrelated to ump as in umpire, and simply a mnemonic rhyming aid.

umstroke

Origin

From um- + stroke.

Una

Irish

Anglicized form of Irish Úna. Doublet of Oona.

unability

Origin

From un- + ability.

unable

Middle English

From Middle English unable, formed from un- ("not") plus able.

Unabomber

Origin

From "UNiversity and Airline BOMBer," the FBI's case file designation.

unabridged

Latin

From un- 'not' plus abridged, which came through Old French from Latin abbreviare 'to shorten'.

unaccelerate

Origin

From un- + accelerate.

unacceptable

Middle English

From Middle English unacceptabylle, built from un- plus acceptable.

unaccompanied

Origin

From un- + accompanied.

unaccounted

Origin

From un- + accounted.

unacquire

Origin

From un- + acquire.

unaffected

Origin

From un- + affected.

unalive

Origin

From un- + alive. Internet usage originates from circumventing social media algorithms that were believed to penalise the use of the words related to death, especially “die”, “kill”, and “suicide”. According to linguist Adam Aleksic, the word in the verb sense of “die, kill” first appeared in a 2013 episode of Ultimate Spider-Man, exploding in usage after a few viral videos in early 2021 popularized it. Since early 2022, unalive has become very widespread even outside Internet usage contexts, especially among adolescents. Aleksic argues that the word unalive has gained so much popularity because of a time-invariant tendency to refer to death by euphemism; compare the word die’s displacement of swelt, or the use of pass away.

unallowable

Origin

From un- + allowable.

unalloyed

Origin

From un- + alloyed.

unaltering

Origin

From un- + altering.

unamenable

Origin

From un- + amenable.

unangelic

Origin

From un- + angelic.

unanimity

Origin

From unanim(ous) + -ity, from Middle French unanimité, from Late Latin ūnanimitās. Displaced native Old English ānmōdnes (literally “one-mindedness”).

unanimous

Latin

From Latin unanimus, "of one mind," combining unus ("one") and animus ("mind, spirit").

unanimously

Origin

From unanimous + -ly.

unanswered

Middle English

From Middle English unansuered, built from un- + answered.

unapologetic

Origin

From un- + apologetic.

unapprehensive

Origin

From un- + apprehensive.

unapt

Origin

From Middle English unapt, equivalent to un- + apt.

unarm

Origin

From un- + arm.

unassociated

Origin

From un- + associated.

unassumingness

Origin

From unassuming + -ness.

unattainable

Origin

From un- + attain + -able.

unattended

Origin

From un- + attended.

unauthentic

Origin

From un- + authentic.

unavailing

Origin

From un- + availing.

unavoidable

Middle English

From Middle English unavoidable, built from un- + avoidable.

unawakening

Origin

From un- + awakening.

unawaking

Origin

From un- + awaking.

unawares

Origin

From unaware + the adverbial -s ending, and actually recorded in English before "unaware" itself.

unbar

Origin

From Middle English unbarren, equivalent to un- + bar.