unique

Pronunciation

• IPA: /juːˈniːk/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French unique,^[2][3][4] and in early use directly from Latin ūnicus (“only, single, sole, alone of its kind”),^[2][5] from ūnus (“one”),^[5][2] from Proto-Indo-European *oi-no- (“one, unique”).^[5] It is related to one.^[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Single, sole, solitary: 1602 in Barnhart and the OED,^[2][7] and 1601 in Merriam-Webster.^[3]

Semantic evolution

“Forming the only one of its kind, having no like or equal” is from 1618,^[7] the 1610s in Etymonline.^[5] In the sense “unrivalled, unparalleled” it was borrowed again from French in the late 18th century and was treated as a foreign word, usually in italics, until the mid-19th century.^[2] The weakened sense “remarkable, uncommon” is from the mid-19th century,^[5] and critics call it an error.^[5][8] The noun, a thing of which only one example exists, is from 1714.^[7][3]

Timeline

• 1602 – single, sole.^[2][7]
• 1618 – having no like or equal.^[7]
• 1714 – noun, a unique specimen.^[7][3]
• late 18th century – reborrowed from French as “unparalleled”.^[2]
• mid-19th century – remarkable, unusual.^[5]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Being the only one of its kind.
2. Without an equal; unparalleled.
3. Belonging only to a particular person, place or thing: a problem unique to cities.
4. (informal) Unusual; remarkable.

Word family

• uniquely
• uniqueness
• biunique
• nonunique
• ununique

Related words

• inimitable
• one
• union
• unit
• unity
• unicorn
• uniform

Usage notes

Unique has become the standard example of an adjective that is said not to allow comparison: most grammarians reject very unique or more unique, though nearly unique and almost unique are accepted.^[8] In one American Heritage survey, 80 percent of the Usage Panel rejected quite unique in a sentence about fashion.^[8]

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 h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin