unlicensed

Etymology

It is formed from English un- + licensed.^[2][3][4] The OED explains it as partly un- with the noun licence and -ed, and partly the same prefix with the past participle of the verb license.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a person: lacking formal permission from an authority to do something: 1563, in Archbishop M. Parker's Articles.^[5] Dictionary.com dates the word to 1600–10,^[3] the Shorter Oxford to the early 17th century,^[2] and Etymonline to the 1630s.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word first described people who carried on an occupation or activity without formal permission from an authority; from 1577 it was also used of things owned, done or produced without one.^[5] In 17th-century England it was used of books and presses that broke the rules of the Licensing Order of 1643.^[5] A work by Milton of 1644 used it in its title for printing that needed no licence.^[5] The wider sense "done without permission, unauthorized" is recorded from 1612,^[5] and of persons from 1609, in Shakespeare's Pericles, a use now obsolete.^[5][6] By 1680 it was also used for "unrestrained, lawless".^[5][6] Johnson (1755) defined it as "having no regular permission", quoting Milton's Paradise Lost and Pope.^[7] In modern British use it often refers to premises without a licence to sell alcohol.^[8][9]

Timeline

• 1563 – of a person, lacking a formal licence.^[5]
• 1577 – owned, done or produced without a licence.^[5]
• 1609 – of a person, without authority or permission (now obsolete).^[5]
• 1612 – of an activity, unauthorized, unsanctioned.^[5]
• 1643 – of a publication or press, against the Licensing Order of 1643.^[5]
• 1644 – not requiring a licence, in the title of a work by Milton.^[5]
• 1680 – unrestrained, lawless.^[5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Not having an official licence to do or own something: an unlicensed taxi driver.^[10][6][8]
2. (chiefly British) Of premises, not licensed to sell alcohol: an unlicensed café.^[8][9]
3. Done or produced without permission; unauthorized.^[10][6][5]
4. (historical) Of a publication, printed without a licence.^[6][5]
5. Unrestrained or lawless.^[10][6][5]
6. (archaic) Not given permission or authority.^[6][5]

Related words

• licence
• license
• licentious

Usage notes

The spelling unlicenced is also found.^[8]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
4. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
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. ^ a b c d Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins