unlearn

What it means

1. transitiveTo discard the knowledge of.

   It is a language that, once learnt, I have been unable to unlearn.

   2005, Sean Dooley, The Big Twitch, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, page 231

   1 more example

   It was another lesson from Fort Hare that I had to unlearn in Johannesburg.

   1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela, London: Abacus, published 2010, page 80

2. transitiveTo break a habit.

In a sentence

It was another lesson from Fort Hare that I had to unlearn in Johannesburg.

1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela, London: Abacus, published 2010, page 80

Where it comes from

1. Middle Englishunlernen
2. Englishunlearn

From Middle English unlernen. By surface analysis, un- + learn.