unwit

English

Etymology

un- +‎ wit

Pronunciation

(noun) IPA^(key): /ˈʌnwɪt/
Audio (Southern England) (file)
(verb) IPA^(key): /ʌnˈwɪt/
Audio (Southern England) (file)

Noun

unwit (uncountable)

(obsolete) Lack of wit or understanding; ignorance.

Verb

unwit (third-person singular simple present unwits, present participle unwitting, simple past and past participle unwitted)

To deprive of wit.
- c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii]:
  As if some planet had unwitted them

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “unwit”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

Anagrams

Wintu

Middle English

Noun

unwit

ignorance
- late 14th century, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canon's Yeoman's Tale, The Canterbury Tales, line 1084-1087:
  [...] Unhappy man! anon I wol me hye
  To tellen thyn unwit and thy folye,
  And eek the falsnesse of that other wrecche,
  As ferforth as that my conning may strecche.
  [...] Unhappy man! right now I will hasten myself
  To tell thy lack of prudence and thy folly,
  And also the falseness of that other wretch,
  Insofar as my skill will stretch.

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