unspoken

U1N1S1P3O1K5E1N1
/ʌnˈspoʊkən/

adjective

Not spoken; not said.

“The unspoken rule is to start a new pot of coffee when it is empty.”

Similar
unsaidunmoutheduntonguedunacknowledgedunwrittenimplicitmutetongueless
OriginEnglish spoken ← Middle English un- ← Old English un- →
Less commonScrabble 14
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Meanings

adjectiveunspoken (not comparable)
  1. not comparablepostpositionalsometimesNot spoken; not said.

    Synonyms: unsaid, unmouthed, untongued

  2. not comparablepostpositionalsometimesNot formally articulated or stated; implicit or understood.

    The unspoken rule is to start a new pot of coffee when it is empty.

    2 more examples

    I don't think we could ever have a good parent-son relationship as long as there is something as important as this that I'm hiding from you, and you (probably) are wondering about vaguely, but everything remains on a silent unspoken level.

    1973 December 22, Bill, “Merry Christmas, with Love”, in Gay Community News, volume 1, number 27, page 7

    To melt with the sight of a smile that divulges the words unspoken.

    2013, Tina Marie Lees, Me

    Synonyms: unacknowledged

verb
  1. participlepastpast participle of unspeak

Synonyms & antonyms

adjectiveNot spoken; not said.

Similar
unsaidunmoutheduntongued

adjectiveNot formally articulated or stated; implicit or understood.

Similar
unacknowledged
Similar
unwrittenimplicit

More synonyms by meaning

adjectiveexpressed without speech

Similar
mutetonguelesswordlesssilentinarticulateunarticulate

adjectivenot made explicit

Similar
unexpressedunsaidunstatedunutteredunverbalizedunverbalisedunvoicedimplicitinexplicit
Also see
implicitmutesilenttonguelessunexpressedunsaidunstateduntalkedunutteredunverbalizedunvoicedwordless

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  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. Englishspoken
  9. Englishunspoken

From un- + spoken.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Ancient Greek ἄρρητος
  • ἄρρητος (árrhētos)not spoken; not said
Bulgarian неизказан, неписан
  • неизказан (neizkazan)not spoken; not said
  • неписан (nepisan)not formally articulated or stated
  • негласен (neglasen)not formally articulated or stated
Czech nevyřčený, nepsaný
  • nevyřčenýnot spoken; not said
  • nepsanýnot formally articulated or stated
Danish usagt
  • usagtnot spoken; not said
Finnish sanomaton, julkilausumaton
  • sanomatonnot spoken; not said
  • julkilausumatonnot formally articulated or stated
  • kirjoittamatonnot formally articulated or stated
French non-dit, tacite
  • non-ditnot spoken; not said
  • tacitenot formally articulated or stated
German ungesagt
  • ungesagtnot spoken; not said
Hindi अनकहा
  • अनकहा (ankahā)not spoken; not said
Japanese 無言の, 暗黙の
  • 無言の (mugon no)not spoken; not said
  • 暗黙の (ammoku no)not spoken; not said
Latin indictus, indictus
  • indictusnot spoken; not said
  • indictusnot formally articulated or stated
Russian невы́сказанный, невы́раженный
  • невы́сказанный (nevýskazannyj)not spoken; not said
  • невы́раженный (nevýražennyj)not spoken; not said
  • непи́саный (nepísanyj)not formally articulated or stated
  • негла́сный (neglásnyj)not formally articulated or stated
Cite this entry
APA

unspoken. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unspoken

MLA

“unspoken.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unspoken. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “unspoken,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unspoken.

Source: unspoken on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.