Etymograph

English

unity

Unity comes from Latin ūnitās ‘oneness, unity’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *óynos ‘one, single’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*óynos1‘one, single’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEūnitās1‘oneness, unity’
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400unité1
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500unite1
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1846unity1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English unity
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1846, E. A. Poe: “If any literary work is too long to be…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*óynosWiktionary, English unity‘one, single’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEūnitāsWiktionary, English unity‘oneness, unity’
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400unitéWiktionary, English unity
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500uniteWiktionary, English unity
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1846unityWiktionary, English unity. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1846, E. A. Poe: “If any literary work is too long to be…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *óynos ‘one, single’

inch, ounce, nullity, 1 more

Today it means

noun Oneness: the state or fact of being one undivided entity.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “unity”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *óynos / unity

Shirt and support for this word