unknown

English

Etymology

From un- +‎ known, past participle of know. Compare Old English ungecnawen.

Pronunciation

(UK) IPA^(key): /ʌnˈnəʊn/
(US) enPR: ŭn-nōnʹ, IPA^(key): /ʌnˈnoʊn/
Audio (US) (file)
Rhymes: -əʊn

Adjective

unknown (comparative more unknown, superlative most unknown)

(sometimes postpositive) Not known; unidentified; not well known.
- 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., OCLC 222716698, page 58:
  The Celebrity, by arts unknown, induced Mrs. Judge Short and two other ladies to call at Mohair on a certain afternoon when Mr. Cooke was trying a trotter on the track. The three returned wondering and charmed with Mrs. Cooke; they were sure she had had no hand in the furnishing of that atrocious house.
- 2022 January 12, Chris Hegg, “The secret railway in the woods”, in RAIL, number 948, page 34:
  I suspect that this large and complex military railway system, shrouded in official secrecy for most of its operational life, remains unknown to many people.
Synonyms: anonymous, unfamiliar, uncharted, undiscovered, unexplored, unidentified, unnamed, unrecognized, unrevealed, unascertained, obscure, unsung
Antonyms: well-known, famous, known

Derived terms

unknownly
unknown quantity

Translations

not known

Albanian: i panjohur (sq)
Arabic: مَجْهُول‎ (majhūl), مُبْهَم‎ m (mubham)
Armenian: անհայտ (hy) (anhayt)
Asturian: desconocíu
Azerbaijani: məchul (az), naməlum (az), bilinməyən
Belarusian: невядо́мы (njevjadómy), незнаёмы (njeznajómy)
Bulgarian: неизве́стен (bg) (neizvésten), незна́ен (bg) (neznáen)
Catalan: desconegut (ca)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 未知 (zh) (wèizhī), 不明 (zh) (bùmíng)
Chukchi: гэвэты ваԓьын (gėvėty vaḷʹyn)
Czech: neznámý (cs)
Danish: ubekendt, ukendt (da)
Dutch: onbekend (nl), ongekend (nl), ongeweten (nl)
Esperanto: nekonata
Estonian: tundmatu (et)
Finnish: tuntematon (fi)
French: inconnu (fr)
Galician: descoñecido (gl)
Georgian: უცნობი (ucnobi)
German: unbekannt (de)
Gothic: 𐌿𐌽𐌺𐌿𐌽𐌸𐍃 (unkunþs)
Greek: άγνωστος (el) (ágnostos)
Ancient: ἄγνωστος (ágnōstos), ἄγνωτος (ágnōtos)
Hindi: अनजान (hi) (anjān)
Hungarian: ismeretlen (hu)
Icelandic: óþekktur (is), ókunnur
Indonesian: tak diketahui
Italian: ignoto (it), sconosciuto (it)
Japanese: 未知の (ja) (みちの, michi no), 無名な (ja) (むめいな, mumei na), 不明な (ja) (ふめいな, fumei na)
Kazakh: белгісіз (belgısız), беймәлім (beimälım), мәлімсіз (mälımsız)
Korean: 알려지지 않다 (allyeojiji anta)
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: نەناسراو‎ (nenasraw)
Kyrgyz: белгисиз (ky) (belgisiz)
Latin: incognitus, ignoratus, ignotus, nescitus, obscurus (la)
Latvian: nepazīstams, svešs
Lithuanian: nežinomas
Macedonian: непознат (nepoznat)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: ukjent (no)
Nynorsk: ukjent
Occitan: desconegut (oc)
Persian: مجهول‎ (fa) (majhul)
Plautdietsch: onbekaunt
Polish: nieznany (pl), nieznajomy (pl), niewiadomy (pl)
Portuguese: desconhecido (pt)
Romanian: necunoscut (ro), neștiut (ro), obscur (ro)
Russian: неизве́стный (ru) (neizvéstnyj), незнако́мый (ru) (neznakómyj), неве́домый (ru) (nevédomyj)
Sanskrit: अज्ञात (sa) (ajñāta)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: не̏познат
Roman: nȅpoznat (sh)
Slovak: neznámy
Slovene: neznan, nepoznan
Spanish: ignoto (es), desconocido (es)
Swedish: okänd (sv)
Tajik: номаълум (tg) (nomaʾlum), ношинос (tg) (nošinos), маҷҳул (majhul)
Turkish: bilinmeyen (tr), bilinmez (tr), meçhul (tr)
Ukrainian: невідо́мий (nevidómyj), незна́ний (neznányj), незнайо́мий (neznajómyj)
Uzbek: nomaʼlum (uz), majhul (uz)
Vietnamese: không biết
Welsh: anhysbys (cy)
Zazaki: nêzanıyen, mechul, nêzanıyaye

Noun

unknown (plural unknowns)

(algebra) A variable (usually x, y or z) whose value is to be found.
Any thing, place, or situation about which nothing is known; an unknown fact or piece of information.
- 1957, Ethel Erford Hewitt, Into the Unknown: An Historical Novel, page 351:
  Had God walked close beside her into the unknown?
- 2003 [2002], Donald Rumsfeld, Hart Seely, editor, Pieces of Intelligence: The Existential Poetry of Donald H. Rumsfeld:
  As we know, There are known knowns. There are things we know we know. We also know There are known unknowns. That is to say We know there are some things We do not know.
- 2020 April 9, Ian Boyd, “We practised for a pandemic, but didn’t brace”, in Nature, volume 580, number 7802, page 9:
  The other priority is getting people to respond well to interventions, especially changes to routine. This is one of the biggest unknowns in these scenarios, and yet compliance can be the most crucial factor in determining whether an intervention works.
A person of no identity; a nonentity
- 1965, Bob Dylan, "Like a Rolling Stone"
  How does it feel
  To be on your own
  With no direction home
  Like a complete unknown
  Like a rolling stone?

Translations

variable

Arabic: مُتَغَيِّر‎ m (mutaḡayyir)
Armenian: անհայտ (hy) (anhayt)
Bulgarian: неизвестно (bg) n (neizvestno)
Finnish: tuntematon (fi)
French: inconnue (fr) f
Galician: incógnita f
German: Unbekannte (de) f
Greek: άγνωστος (el) (ágnostos)
Hungarian: ismeretlen (hu)
Icelandic: óþekkt stærð f
Latin: please add this translation if you can
Latvian: nezināmais m
Lithuanian: nežinomasis m
Macedonian: непозната f (nepoznata)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: ukjent (no) m
Polish: niewiadoma (pl) f
Portuguese: incógnita (pt) f
Romanian: necunoscută (ro) f
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: непозната f
Roman: nepoznata (sh) f
Spanish: incógnita f
Turkish: değişken (tr)
Ukrainian: невідома f (nevidoma)
Zazaki: vurnaynoğ

fact or place

Arabic: غَامِض‎ m (ḡāmiḍ), غَوَامِض‎ m pl (ḡawāmiḍ)
Finnish: tuntematon (fi)
French: inconnu (fr) m
Galician: descoñecido (gl) m
Hungarian: ismeretlen (hu)
Portuguese: desconhecido (pt) m
Spanish: desconocido (es) m

person of no identity

Arabic: مَجْهُول‎ m (majhūl), مُبْهَم‎ m (mubham)
Galician: descoñecido (gl) m, descoñecida f
German: Unbekannter (de) m
Hungarian: idegen (hu)
Italian: carneade (it) m
Japanese: 名無し (nanashi)
Portuguese: desconhecido (pt) m
Swedish: okänd (sv)

Verb

unknown

past participle of unknow