Etymology

unscrew

U1N1S1C3R1E1W4

Today it means: To loosen a screw or thing by turning it. Full definition →

English screw ← Middle English scrue ← Old French escruveinflu.
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₂ent-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*h₂énts
  3. Proto-Germanic*anda-
  4. Proto-West Germanic*anda-
  5. Old Englishand-
  6. Old Englishon-
  7. Middle Englishon-
  8. Englishun-
  9. Proto-Indo-European*(s)krebʰ-der.?
  10. Latinscrōfa
  11. Old Frenchescroue
  12. Old Frenchescruveinflu.
  13. Middle Englishscrue
  14. Englishscrew
  15. English todayunscrew

From un- + screw.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.