unked
/ʌnˈkɛd/
unked adjective: odd; strange.
Adjective
unked (comparative more unked, superlative most unked)
- odd; strange
- On Tuesday afternoon Molly returned home, to the home which was already strange, and what Warwickshire people would call 'unked,' to her. New paint, new paper, new colours; grim servants dressed in their best, and objecting to every change1864 August – 1866 January, [Elizabeth] Gaskell, Wives and Daughters. An Every-day Story. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], published 1866, →OCLC
- Forsooth he misdoubted him that the bow was somewhat unked, and that the lad had had some new dealings with the Dwarf-kin or other strange wights.1898, William Morris, The Sundering Flood, p. 41
- ugly
- And there the little stalk of each, which might have been a pear, God willing, had a ring around its base, and sought a chance to drop and die. The others which had not opened comb, but only prepared to do it, were a little better off, but still very brown and unked, and shrivelling in doubt of...1869, Richard Doddridge Blackmore, Lorna Doone, Chapter 17
- uncouth
- lonely; dreary
- March 21, 1790, William Cowper, letter to Mrs. Throckmorton
Weston is sadly unked without you.
- March 21, 1790, William Cowper, letter to Mrs. Throckmorton
Forms of unked
| comparative | more unked |
|---|---|
| superlative | most unked |
Origin of unked
From Middle English unked, past participle of unkythen, equivalent to un- + ked (an old past participle form of kithe).
Questions about unked
- What does unked mean?
- Unked means odd; strange.
- What part of speech is unked?
- Unked is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce unked?
- Unked is pronounced /ʌnˈkɛd/.
Words near unked in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: unked (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.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “unked.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/unked. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
