Etymologically
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unfold

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ʌnˈfəʊld/[1]
  • US: /ʌnˈfoʊld/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English unfolden,[2][3][4] inherited from Old English unfealdan (“to unfold, unroll”),[5][6][3][7] formed from Old English un- + fealdan (“to fold”),[6][7][8] the source of fold.[3] The Old English verb comes from Proto-Germanic *falþaną,[3][9][10] and similar formations are Middle Dutch ontvouden and German entfalten.[6][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

To open the folds of something, to spread it open: Old English, in Wærferth's translation of Gregory's Dialogues, of opening a book.[6][5] Old English already used it figuratively, to unfold or explain by narrating.[5][6]

Semantic evolution

The figurative sense, to disclose or explain, is as old as the literal one in Old English.[6][5][3] In Middle English the verb was used from before 1325 of opening the eyes or lips, or a gate,[6][2] and intransitively from about 1350, to open out or spread.[6][3] Chaucer used it six times,[11] in his Boethius (about 1374) for laying something open to view.[6] Etymonline dates its use of wings to the mid-15th century.[3] From 1553 it meant to unwrap something,[6] and the sense of a story or situation developing gradually is also intransitive.[12][13] A rare verb of the same spelling, to release sheep from a fold or pen, was formed from the noun that means a pen: the MED records it before 1450, Etymonline in the mid-15th century, and the OED from Palsgrave (1530).[2][3][6][13]

Timeline

  • Old English – to open the folds of; to explain by narrating.[6][5]
  • before 1325 – to open the eyes or lips, or a gate.[6]
  • c. 1350 – intransitive, to open out, spread.[6]
  • c. 1374 – to lay open to view, in Chaucer's Boethius.[6]
  • 1390 – figurative use, in Gower's Confessio Amantis.[6]
  • before 1450 – to release sheep from a pen.[2]
  • 1553 – to unwrap, take out of something folded.[6]
  • 1633 – to release, let go.[6]
  • 1779 – reflexive use.[6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To open something that is folded and spread it out: He unfolded the letter and read it aloud.[12][7][6]
  2. To open out from a folded state: The leaves unfold in early spring.[12][6]
  3. To make known or reveal, especially by gradual explanation: The guide unfolded the history of the castle.[12][7][6]
  4. Of events or a story, to develop or become clear step by step: We watched the drama unfold on the evening news.[12][13]
  5. To unwrap something from its folds.[7][6]
  6. To release sheep from a sheepfold.[6][2][13]

Word family

  • unfoldment
  • unfoldable
  • unfolder
  • fold
  • enfold
  • manifold
  • twofold

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  5. ^ a b c d e Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  10. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  11. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
  12. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  13. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press