un-English
un-English adjective: not English.
Adjective
un-English (comparative more un-English, superlative most un-English)
- Not English.
- A quick scan of a couple of pages in a dictionary that records the origin of our vocabulary reveals that many entries in it are historically “un-English.” This is not surprising; languages travel […]2009, Donka Minkova, Robert Stockwell, English Words: History and Structure, page 24
- Fowler effectively refuted critics who had argued that Milton's high style was un-English, but he overstated the case.1999, Ton Hoenselaars, Marius Buning, English Literature and the Other Languages, page 41
Verb
un-English (third-person singular simple present un-Englishes, present participle un-Englishing, simple past and past participle un-Englished)
- To make no longer English; to divest of English character or language.
Forms of un-English
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more un-English |
| superlative | most un-English |
| alternative form (rare) | unEnglish |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | un-Englishes |
| present participle | un-Englishing |
| past participle | un-Englished |
| past | un-Englished |
Origin of un-English
From un- (“negative”) + English.
From un- (“reversive”) + English.
Words formed from un-English
Questions about un-English
- What does un-English mean?
- Un-English means not English.
- What part of speech is un-English?
- Un-English can be an adjective or a verb.
Words near un-English in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: un-English (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “un-English.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/un-english. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.