Uncanny

How to spell uncanny

7 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce uncanny

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does uncanny mean?

1. adjectiveStrange or mysterious in a way that is unsettling, often because it seems beyond normal explanation.

Uncanny in a sentence

• The new analyst had an uncanny knack for predicting which deals would collapse.

• The empty office had an uncanny stillness late at night.

Where does uncanny come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word grew out of Scots and Northern English, where 'canny' meant 'knowing, shrewd, skilful', built on the old verb 'can' in its original sense 'to know' rather than the modern sense 'to be able to'. Adding the negative prefix 'un-' produced 'uncanny', which in the 1500s and 1600s carried the now-forgotten meaning of 'malicious' or 'not safe to deal with', as if something lay beyond ordinary, trustworthy knowledge. From there the sense drifted toward 'mysterious' and 'associated with the supernatural', and by the 1800s it settled into the modern meaning of 'eerie' or 'strangely beyond what is normal'. The same 'can' root that gives us 'know' also lies behind the still-living Scottish word 'canny' for a careful, prudent person. The spelling trap is the doubled n: keep the prefix 'un-' fully intact and then add 'canny', so the n of 'un' meets the c, while 'canny' keeps its own double n.

How the word is built

• un- (not)
• canny (knowing, shrewd, from Scots 'can' meaning 'to know')
• -y (adjective suffix)