Etymograph

English

unwashed

Unwashed comes from Middle English unwaschen ‘unwashen’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *wed- ‘to well’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wed-1‘to well’root named by Wiktionary · steps between not traced
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500unwaschen1‘unwashen’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500unwasched1
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1820unwashed1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English unwashed
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1820, Walter Scott, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne & Co.] for Longman: “I say that the eyass should have her meat…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wed-Wiktionary, English unwashed‘to well’root named by Wiktionary · steps between not traced
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500unwaschenWiktionary, English unwashed‘unwashen’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500unwaschedWiktionary, English unwashed
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1820unwashedWiktionary, English unwashed. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1820, Walter Scott, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne & Co.] for Longman: “I say that the eyass should have her meat…”

Formed from un- + washed

Proto-Indo-European *n̥- ‘not, un-’

Proto-Germanic *un- ‘not, un-’

Proto-West Germanic *un- ‘not, un-’

English un-

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *wed- ‘to well’

water, wet, vodka, wash, abundance, und, hydro, surround, abundant, otter, redundant, hydrate, vitriol, hydride, vitreous, aldehyde, vedra, inundate, undine, 43 more

Today it means

adj Not having been washed.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “unwashed”. 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 *wed- / unwashed

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