Unaffected

How to spell unaffected

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce unaffected

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does unaffected mean?

1. adjectiveNot changed, influenced, or harmed by something.
2. adjectiveSincere and natural in manner, free of pretence or put-on airs.

Unaffected in a sentence

• The northern branches were unaffected by the supply shortage.

• Her unaffected warmth put every new colleague at ease.

• House prices in the village remained unaffected by the recession.

• Despite his fame, he stayed unaffected and easy to talk to.

Where does unaffected come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word is built on the verb 'affect', which English took from the Latin afficere, meaning 'to do something to' or 'to influence', formed from ad ('to') and facere ('to do or make'). Add the native English prefix 'un-', meaning 'not', and the past-participle ending '-ed', and you get 'unaffected', literally 'not acted upon'. It first appears in English in the late 1500s in the plain sense of something left untouched or unchanged by an outside force. A second, more flattering meaning grew up alongside it: a person who is 'unaffected' is free of affectation, that is, free of put-on airs or pretended manners. That second sense leans on 'affectation', another descendant of the same facere root, so both readings trace back to the idea of something being 'done' or 'made'. The doubled letters that trip writers up, the two f's in the middle, come straight from the af- assimilation of Latin ad- before the f of facere.

How the word is built

• un- (not)
• af- (to, from Latin ad-)
• fect (from facere: to do, make)
• -ed (adjectival/past-participle suffix)