unfamiliar

Etymology

It is formed from English un- + familiar.^[2][3][4][5] The adjective familiar comes from Old French familier, from Latin familiāris (“domestic, of a household”), from familia (“household, family”).^[6][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Not well known; strange: 1593, in Hooker's Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity.^[2] Merriam-Webster gives 1594,^[7] and Etymonline the 1590s.^[3] Johnson (1755) quoted Hooker for it: "The matters which we handle, seem, by reason of newness, dark, intricate, unfamiliar".^[8]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline glosses the early use as "not well-known or acquainted; not wonted by frequent use".^[3] Johnson defined it as "unaccustomed; such as is not common", and also quoted Warton on "Chaucer's uncouth, or rather unfamiliar, language".^[8] The word now has three main uses: of a thing not known from earlier acquaintance, of something unusual, and of a person not acquainted with something.^[4][9] The noun unfamiliarity followed in the mid-18th century, and unfamiliarized in the late 18th.^[4]

Timeline

• 1593 – not well known, strange, in Hooker.^[2]
• mid 18th century – the noun unfamiliarity.^[4]
• late 18th century – unfamiliarized.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Not known or recognized; strange: An unfamiliar car was parked outside the house.^[9][7][4]
2. Unusual; not common or customary.^[4][7][8]
3. (followed by with) Not well acquainted with something: Many voters were unfamiliar with the new rules.^[9][7][4]

Word family

• unfamiliarity
• unfamiliarly

Related words

• familiar
• family
• familiarity

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b c Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
9. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins