Etymology

unreal

U1N1R1E1A1L1

Today it means: Not real or substantial; having no actual presence in reality; lacking the characteristics of reality. Full definition →

English real ← Middle English real ← Old French ree
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*né
  2. Proto-Indo-European*n̥-
  3. Proto-Germanic*un-
  4. Proto-West Germanic*un-
  5. Old Englishun-
  6. Middle Englishun-
  7. Englishun-
  8. Proto-Indo-European*(H)reh₁-
  9. Proto-Indo-European*(H)reh₁ís
  10. Proto-Italic*reis
  11. Classical Latinrēs
  12. Proto-Indo-European*h₂el-
  13. Proto-Indo-European*h₂élisder.?
  14. Late Latinreālis
  15. Old Frenchree
  16. Middle Englishreal
  17. Englishreal
  18. English todayunreal

From un- + real.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.