Talk:un-

huh?
This page just doesn't seem right. How can adding un- to a verb denote absence, violation, or contradiction? How can adding un- to a noun result in a verb of reversal, cancellation, or release? Uncar, undoor? (Cage is a verb, I remind you.) And what about adverbs, or do the ones in question always derive from the adjective? 59.112.58.55 17:29, 30 November 2006 (UTC)


 * I agree. This page makes very little sense.  You can't prefix just any word with "un-" to negate it (as this page implies.)  Words in Old English were perhaps negated this way, and many of them have carried over.  But this page is more of an obeservation about some occurences of "un-" than actually specifying what rules dictate when it can be used.  It should also caution against overuse; least the speaker/writer end up sounding "unliterate."  :-)     --Connel MacKenzie 01:45, 22 December 2006 (UTC)
 * wtf, this page makes no sense. its ridiculous that adding a un- to a verb or a noun is real. fuck this 139.98.2.57 08:49, 2 February 2023 (UTC)

How about systematic element names?
"un-" is used to stand for 1 when naming otherwise unnamed chemical elements. In other words, element 1,111 is ununununium until it is successfully synthesized and a name can be agreed on. Should this go under a Translingual section? 71.233.250.241 11:25, 25 February 2009 (UTC)
 * I've added a third section to the English part. Do you think that the etymology is correct, or does it come from unnamed:? SemperBlotto 11:32, 25 February 2009 (UTC)
 * I switched it to a translingual section, since it's just a way to generate a name from a number(222 would be bibibium or some such); I'm not even sure it(or at least its constituent parts) merits mention in a dictionary. BioTube 01:28, 24 August 2009 (UTC)

Words from Chambers 1908
Here are some un- words from Chambers 1908. I have spent a lot of time on this dictionary and these are mainly gonna be words that I skipped because they are nonce words from a single author (Milton, Shakespeare etc.) or whatever. But I hate to delete anything. I apologise for some scannos.

unbe, v.t. to cause not to be.

unblenched, adj'. (Milt.) not startled or confounded. adj. unblenching, not flinching.

unchristian, [...] {coll.) improper, unusual. v.i.[???] to make unchristian.

unchurch, SENSE: to refuse the name of church to.

SENSE uncoloured / uncolored, adj. not coloured, undyed, white : truthful, not exaggerated.

underbush -- as SYNONYM for underbrush verbs??

undertake, v.t. to take in, understand: v.i. to manage all the arrangements of a burial.

undescendable, undescendible, adj. not descendible, unfathomable : not capable of descending to heirs.

SENSE? unfiled, adj. not soiled or polluted.

unflame, v.t. to cool.

unhappily, [...] (SAa3i.) censoriously. unhappiness, [...] {S/tai.) a mischievous prank.

union, [...] a device emblematic of union borne in the canton of a flag, the canton used sepa- rately as a flag, the union-jack : (//.) textile fabrics made up of more than one kind of fibre, as of wool and cotton.

unliturgise, to deprive of a liturgy.

unmechanise, v.i. to destroy the mechanism of, to throw out of order.
 * probably Tristram Shandy -- unmechanize

MISSING unmethodised [and ized?], not regulated by method.

unmonopolise, un-mS-nop'S-lTz, v.t. to free from monopoly. — adj. unmonop'olising, not including in a monopoly.

un-Mosaic, adj. not according to Moses or his law.

unnoble, VERB -- to deprive of nobility.

unpanel, v.t. to unsaddle.

unpositive, adj. not assertive.

unpossibility, n. impossibility. adj. unpossible, impossible.

unposted, adj'. not having a fixed post : not posted up for public information : {coil.) not posted or informed about anything.

unpraise, v.t. to deprive of praise. MISSING but got ~ing

unprotestantise, v.t. to pervert from protestantism, to strip of Protestant features.

unquit. adj. not discharged. + unquitted MAYBE?

unrealise, to divest of reality. adv. unreally.

unseem (Shak.) not to seem.

unselfness (rare).

unsense, un-sens', v.t. to free from the dominion of the senses— also unsen'sualise.— a^'. unsensed

unsettle, [...] v.i. to become unfixed. unsettled, not settled, fixed, or determined : changeable: not having the dregs deposited : not yet inhabited and cultivated: turbulent, lawless.

unshiftiness, shiftlessness.

unshiftable, shiftless.

unson, v.i. to make unworthy of sonship.

unsonsie, unsoncie, adj. (Scot.) unlucky.

unsorted, adj. [...] ill-chosen.

unstablished [sic]: not firmly fixed.

untented. adj. (Scot.) ???xutciTed for.
 * cf. untenty [got] = inattentive, clumsy, incautious

untrue, [...] not in accordance with a standard.

unwedgable, un-wej'a-bl, adj. (Shak.) unable to be split with wedges. SEE CITE AT gnarled

SENSE: unwreaked, ndj. (Spens.) unrevenged.

SENSE: unwrung, adj. not galled.

Equinox ◑ 00:40, 28 October 2019 (UTC)

untold: Not able to be counted/told
How does the prefix un- creates the meaning "not able to be" when added to a past participle? --Backinstadiums (talk) 17:38, 3 March 2020 (UTC)


 * "un-" meaning "not able to be" is pragmatic (defined by context), and not based on the prefix alone. This sense is specific to "untold" only.
 * I am going to mark-up that sense as literary, since I've only ever seen it in Lovecraftian and Gothic Horror (English literary and film genres). It's used in some videogames utilizing those genres (like Darkest Dungeon). PhalanxDown (talk) 03:40, 1 January 2022 (UTC)

un- is "inverse"
That 2A02:8086:ABE:8F80:2C66:5B24:ED55:21D0 19:22, 22 May 2023 (UTC)