unequal

Etymology

It is formed from English un- + equal, with the negative prefix.^[2][3][4][5] Equal is from Latin aequālis (“uniform, identical, equal”), from aequus (“level, even; just, fair”), which is of unknown origin.^[3] The older form inequal, from the Latin inaequālis, was used in the sense "not the same in amount" from the late 14th century.^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Uneven, having an undulating surface: probably before 1425, in a translation of Guy de Chauliac's Grande Chirurgie.^[2] Etymonline dates this sense, in the form unequale, to the early 15th century,^[3] while the Shorter Oxford and Dictionary.com date the word to the 16th century.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

In the 16th century the word gained most of its modern range: irregular or variable in extent (1556) and in movement (1561), inconsistent in character or quality (1590), and differing in amount or size (1565), now the main sense.^[2] Of a match or relationship between people of different standing or strength it is recorded from 1552, and of a contest in which one side has the advantage from 1636.^[2][3] From 1529 to the mid 18th century it also meant unfair or unjust, of actions and then of people.^[2][4] Trench noted that early writers used it constantly for "unjust", a sense the Latin inaequālis never had, as if influenced by inīquus (“unjust”), and quoted Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra and Ben Jonson's Volpone.^[6] Johnson (1755) still gave "not even" as the first sense.^[7] In Scots the sense "unfair" survived into the 18th century.^[8] The sense "not adequate (to a task)", with to, is recorded from 1548,^[2] and Etymonline dates it to the 1690s.^[3]

Timeline

• before 1425 – uneven, not smooth (of a surface).^[2][3]
• 1529 – unfair, inequitable (obsolete by 1761).^[2]
• 1548 – not adequate for a task, with to.^[2]
• 1552 – of a pairing of people, differing in rank, wealth or strength.^[2]
• 1556 – irregular or variable in extent or duration.^[2]
• 1565 – differing in amount, size or quality.^[2][9]
• 1600 – noun, a person or thing not equal to another.^[9]
• 1636 – of a contest, unfairly matched.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Not the same in quantity, size, value or rank: two ropes of unequal length.^[10][9][2]
2. Not fairly balanced; giving one side an advantage: an unequal contest.^[10][9][2]
3. Not able to cope with something; inadequate (followed by to): He proved unequal to the job.^[10][2][4]
4. Varying or inconsistent in character or quality; irregular.^[10][2][4]
5. (obsolete) Unjust, unfair.^[10][2][4]

Noun

1. A person or thing that is not equal to another, usually in the plural: a society of unequals.^[9]

Word family

• unequally
• unequalness

Related words

• equal
• inequality
• inequal
• iniquity

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ Trench, Richard Chenevix (1859), A Select Glossary of English Words Used Formerly in Senses Different from Their Present, London: John W. Parker
7. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
8. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
9. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins