Etymologically
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unconscious

Etymology and origin of the English word unconscious

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1712

Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ʌnˈkɒn.ʃəs/, US /ʌnˈkɑːn.ʃəs/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from un- and conscious.[2][3] The noun, the unconscious, is a loan translation of German das Unbewusste.[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Unaware, not marked by conscious thought, and also lacking consciousness altogether: 1712.[2][3][4][5]

Semantic evolution

Not realized as existing in oneself is from 1800,[4] and done without awareness from 1820.[4] The sense temporarily insensible, knocked out, is first recorded in Oliver Wendell Holmes's Elsie Venner (1860).[2][3][4] The noun, the unconscious mind, is from 1876 in Etymonline, before 1884 in Barnhart and the OED,[3][2][4] and the adjective in Freud's psychological sense from 1912.[3][4]

Timeline

  • 1712 – unaware; lacking consciousness.[2][4]
  • 1820 – done without awareness.[4]
  • 1860 – insensible, knocked out.[2][4]
  • 1876 – the unconscious (noun).[3]
  • 1912 – unconscious (psychology).[4][3]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Lacking normal awareness and perception; insensible.
  2. Temporarily without consciousness, as after a blow.
  3. Not aware of something: unconscious of his bad manners.
  4. Happening without conscious thought or intention: an unconscious blunder.
  5. Coming from the unconscious mind.

Noun

  1. (psychoanalysis) The part of the mind holding memories, impulses and repressed desires that are not open to conscious perception but affect thought and behaviour.

Word family

  • unconsciously
  • unconsciousness
  • collective unconscious

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
Cite this entry

“Unconscious.” Etymologically, 17 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/unconscious. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·