# uncanny

> English word · Adjective · IPA /ʌnˈkæni/ · frequency rank #18,981

## Definitions
1. Strange, and mysteriously unsettling (as if supernatural); weird.
2. Careless.

## Etymology
From un- + canny; thus “beyond one's ken,” or outside one's familiar knowledge or perceptions. Compare Middle English unkanne (“unknown”). In the noun sense a translation of Sigmund Freud's usage of German unheimlich (Das Unheimliche, 1919).

## Easily confused with
- **unfunny** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/uncanny-vs-unfunny)

## Common misspellings (9)
`nucanny`, `ucnanny`, `unacnny`, `uncannyy`, `uncany`, `uncanyn`, `unccanny`, `uncnany`, `unncanny`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/uncanny