unwittingly
un·wit·ting·ly/ˌʌnˈwɪtɪŋli/adverb
unwittingly is spelled U-N-W-I-T-T-I-N-G-L-Y: 11 letters and 4 syllables (un·wit·ting·ly). It appears 1.2 times per million words in written English, the 26,420th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adverb, unwittingly means “In an unwitting manner; inadvertently, obliviously, unintentionally, unknowingly” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in unwittingly?
| Letters | 11: U-N-W-I-T-T-I-N-G-L-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4: un·wit·ting·ly |
| In writing | 1.2 times per million words; the 26,420th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is unwittingly?
Unwittingly appears 1.2 times per million words in written English, the 26,420th 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 unwittingly?
- UK /ʌnˈwɪtɪŋli/
- US /ˌʌnˈwɪtɪŋli/
- US /ˌən-/
Unwittingly has 4 syllables, split un·wit·ting·ly in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-unwittingly.flac, En-au-unwittingly.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of unwittingly
- more unwittingly comparative
- most unwittingly superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does unwittingly mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adverb
- 1
In an unwitting manner; inadvertently, obliviously, unintentionally, unknowingly.
She realized to her horror that she had unwittingly helped those people she most despised.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Unwittingly in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense in an unwitting manner:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | involontairement, inconsciemment |
| German | unbeabsichtigt, unabsichtlich, ungewollt, irrtümlich, ohne sich dessen bewusst zu sein, ohne es zu wissen |
| Spanish | sin querer, accidentalmente, sin comerlo ni beberlo |
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 unwittingly come from?
From Middle English on-wytyngly, un-wetandly, unweteynglye, unwetinglie, un-wetinglye, unwetyngly, unwitandly, unwitendely, unwitingly, unwittandly, unwityngli, unwityngly, unwytyngeleche, unwytyngli, equivalent to unwitting + -ly or un- + wittingly.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).