noun
unicorn
YOO-nih-kawn
noun
1
A mythical horse-like creature with a single horn growing from its forehead.
"The children's book was full of unicorns and rainbows."
"She had a unicorn poster on her bedroom wall as a kid."
2
A privately held startup company valued at over one billion dollars.
"The ride-sharing app became a unicorn within three years of launching."
"Investors are always hunting for the next tech unicorn."
3
Someone or something so rare that it's almost impossible to find.
"A landlord who fixes things fast is a real unicorn."
"Finding a candidate with all those skills is like chasing a unicorn."
How to Use Unicorn
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishEither the legendary one-horned horse, or — much more common in everyday talk now — a startup worth over a billion dollars, or anything wonderfully rare.
Common pairings
tech unicorn
a true unicorn
unicorn startup
Word Forms
unicorned past tense, unicorns plural, unicorns singular
Study it as flashcards or scroll it in Flow — saved to your collection.
Test yourself on “unicorn”
A quick quiz — meaning, synonyms & usage
→
Fill the Gap
Can you complete this real example?
The children's book was full of _____ and rainbows.
Etymology
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.