un-
/ʌn/
"un" is a 2-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“un-” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a prefix. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 3
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - not
Corpus desk
Index EN-un · un- · English
un- · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MID 3 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "U" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | un- |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Prefix |
| IPA | /ʌn/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “un-” in English
Rare enough to double-check
un- is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as aprefix, transcribed /ʌn/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for un-, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English un-, from Old English un-, from Proto-West Germanic *un-, from Proto-Germanic *un-, from Proto-Indo-European *n̥-. Cognate with Scots un-, on- (“un-”), North Frisian ün-, Saterland Frisian uun-, West Frisian ûn-, on-, Dutch on-, Low Germ… The correct English form is un-, spelled U-N--.
Definition
- 1not
- 2lack of
- 3contrary to traditional norms; unconventional
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how un- appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
un- + educated → uneducated (“not educated”)
un- + conformity → unconformity (“lack of conformity”)
Etymology
From Middle English un-, from Old English un-, from Proto-West Germanic *un-, from Proto-Germanic *un-, from Proto-Indo-European *n̥-. Cognate with Scots un-, on- (“un-”), North Frisian ün-, Saterland Frisian uun-, West Frisian ûn-, on-, Dutch on-, Low German un-, on-, German un-, Danish u-, Swedish o-, Norwegian u-, Icelandic ó-. More distant cognate with Latin in-, Ancient Greek ἀ- (a-) (whence English a-, modern Greek α- (a-)) and Sanskrit अ- (a-). Doublet of in- and a-.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.