Etymology

unfree

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Today it means: Not free; lacking freedom, especially (historical) of a tenant who was bound to a manor. Full definition →

Middle English unfre ← Old English [Term?] ← Proto-West Germanic *unfrī
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The story

  1. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*unfrī
  2. Old English · inherited from[Term?]
  3. Middle English · inherited fromunfre
  4. English todayunfree

From Middle English unfre, from Old English [Term?], from Proto-West Germanic *unfrī; cognates include Middle High German unfrī (German unfrei), Middle Low German unvrī, Middle Dutch onvri (Dutch onvrij). By surface analysis, un- + free.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.