unseen
/ʌnˈsiːn/adjective, noun, verb
unseen is spelled U-N-S-E-E-N: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 4.1 times per million words in written English, the 12,764th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, unseen means “Not seen or discovered; invisible” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in unseen?
| Letters | 6: U-N-S-E-E-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 4.1 times per million words; the 12,764th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is unseen?
Unseen appears 4.1 times per million words in written English, the 12,764th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce unseen?
- /ʌnˈsiːn/
Unseen has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-unseen.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of unseen
- unseens plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does unseen mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Not seen or discovered; invisible.
- 2
Unskilled; inexperienced.
- 3
Not hitherto noticed; unobserved.
noun
- 1
An examination involving material not previously seen or studied.
I have French and Latin unseens this summer.
verb
- 1
past participle of unsee
What has been seen cannot be unseen.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Unseen in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense not seen:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does unseen come from?
From Middle English unsen, unseyn, unseien, from Old English unġesewen, from Proto-Germanic *unsewanaz, equivalent to un- + seen. Cognate with Dutch ongezien (“unseen”), German Low German unsehn (“unseen”), German ungesehen (“unseen”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).