Meanings
comparative more unknowing · superlative most unknowing
- obsoleteUnknown, unbeknownst (to someone).
And when they had fulfilled the dayes, as they returned home, the chylde Jesus boode styll in hierusalem, vnknowinge to his father and mother.
1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Luke
plural unknowings
- Absence of knowledge; ignorance of something.
Only later in the performance do we get that diegetically earlier moment, the moment when still earlier questions, fears, knowings, and unknowings congeal into the medical diagnosis of “positive.”
2011, E. L. McCallum, Mikko Tuhkanen, Queer Times, Queer Becomings, page 320
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveunaware because of a lack of relevant information or knowledge
nounignorance (especially of orthodox beliefs)
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*né
- Proto-Indo-European*n̥-
- Proto-Germanic*un-
- Proto-West Germanic*un-
- Old Englishun-
- Middle Englishun-
- Englishun-
- Proto-Indo-European*ǵneh₃-
- Proto-Germanic*knēaną
- Proto-West Germanic*knāan
- Old Englishcnāwan
- Middle Englishknowen
- Englishknow
- Englishknowing
- Englishunknowing
Translations
Arabic جَاهِل
- جَاهِل (jāhil)without knowing
Dutch onwetend
- onwetendwithout knowing
Finnish tietämätön, epätietoinen
- tietämätönwithout knowing
- epätietoinenwithout knowing
German ahnungslos
- ahnungsloswithout knowing
Polish bezwiedny
- bezwiednywithout knowing
Cite this entry
unknowing. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unknowing
“unknowing.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unknowing. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “unknowing,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unknowing.
Source: unknowing on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.