unknown English · revision 4737
16 Oct 2026, 00:11 by bogdan “en10k b0169: ultimate … breath; skipped hidden 1673, drawn 1679” current version
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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=a. 1300|origins=en un-, en known}}
+
+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA: UK /ʌnˈnəʊn/, US /ʌnˈnoʊn/^(Roach et al. 2011)
+
+ ==Etymology==
+ It is [[inh|enm|unknowen]], formed [[af|en|un-|known]], the past participle of [[know]].^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) Compare Old English ungecnāwen.^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ Strange, unfamiliar, of places and persons: the 14th century in the OED,^(OED 1989) about 1300 in Etymonline.^(Etymonline) In the sense “ignorant of, unskilled in”, now obsolete, it is from before 1300.^(OED 1989)
+
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ Of facts, not discovered or found out, is from the early 14th century (about 1330 in the OED).^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) The noun, an unknown person, is from the 1590s, and ''the unknown'', that which is unknown, from the 1650s.^(Etymonline) ''Unknown quantity'' was originally a term of algebra,^(OED 1989) later used of a person or thing whose nature is not known.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023) The ''unknown soldier'' or ''unknown warrior'' is an unidentified soldier buried as a memorial to all those who died in a war.^(OED 1989)^(Collins 2023) A rare verb unknow, to fail to recognize, is from the late 14th century.^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Timeline==
+ * a. 1300 – ignorant of.^(OED 1989)
+ * c. 1300 – unfamiliar, of persons and places.^(Etymonline)
+ * c. 1330 – of facts, not known.^(OED 1989)
+ * 1590s – noun, an unknown person.^(Etymonline)
+ * 1650s – ''the unknown''.^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Modern meaning==
+ ===Adjective===
+ # Not known or not familiar.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)
+ # Not identified or found out: ''an unknown attacker''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)
+ # Not [[famous]]: ''an unknown actor''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)
+
+ ===Noun===
+ # A person who is not well known.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)
+ # ''(mathematics)'' A [[quantity]] whose value is not known, shown by a letter.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)
+ # ''the unknown'': things or places that are not known.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)
+
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[know]]
+ * [[known]]
+ * [[unknowable]]
+
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}