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uninformed

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Etymology and origin of the English word uninformed

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1597 Sir R. Cecil, letter More words from the 16th century
Ultimate origin
Latin īnfōrmō

Pronunciation

  • US: /ʌnɪnˈfɔɹmd/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English un- + informed.[2][3][4] Informed is the past participle adjective of inform,[3][2] which is from Old French informer and directly from Latin īnfōrmō (“to shape, give form to; to train, instruct”), from in- (“into”) and fōrmō (“to form, shape”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Not informed or instructed about some matter: 1597, in a letter of Sir R. Cecil.[2] Etymonline dates it to the 1590s,[3] the Shorter Oxford to the late 16th century.[4]

Semantic evolution

The word was at first used about some particular matter or subject.[3][2] The general sense "uneducated, ignorant" followed: Etymonline dates it to the 1640s,[3] the Shorter Oxford to the mid-17th century,[4] while the OED's first quotation is from Clarendon's History of the Rebellion (1702).[2] From 1796 it also described things marked by a lack of knowledge, such as opinions or minds.[2] A sense "not animated or inspired" is recorded from 1709, in Swift;[2] Johnson (1755) gave it as "unanimated; not enlivened" beside "untaught; uninstructed", quoting Milton's Paradise Lost for the latter,[5] and the Shorter Oxford calls it now rare.[4] The OED also records it once, in 1754, for something unimproved by art.[2]

Timeline

  • 1597 – not informed or instructed about some matter.[2]
  • 1702 – uneducated, ignorant.[2]
  • 1709 – not animated or inspired.[2]
  • 1754 – unimproved by art (obsolete).[2]
  • 1796 – showing a lack of knowledge or enlightenment.[2]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Lacking knowledge or information about a particular matter or situation: Voters were left uninformed about the new tax.[6][7][2]
  2. Showing or resulting from a lack of knowledge: an uninformed guess.[2][7]
  3. Generally uneducated; ignorant.[2][4][1]
  4. (rare) Not animated or inspired; lifeless.[4][2][5]

References

  1. ^ a b 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f 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 Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  6. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  7. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
Cite this entry

“Uninformed.” Etymologically, 8 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/uninformed. Accessed 9 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·