Uncertain

How to spell uncertain

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce uncertain

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does uncertain mean?

1. adjectiveNot known, not fixed, or not confidently decided.

Uncertain in a sentence

• The start date for the project remains uncertain until the budget is approved.

• She felt uncertain about whether to accept the new job offer.

Where does uncertain come from?

Language of origin: French

The core of this word is the Latin certus, meaning 'settled, fixed, or sure', which itself grew out of the verb cernere, 'to sift, separate, or decide'; the idea was that once something had been sifted out and decided, it was certain. Latin certus passed into Old French as certain, keeping the sense of 'sure' or 'reliable', and Middle English borrowed that French form in the 1300s. The negative prefix un-, a native English element meaning simply 'not', was then attached to give 'uncertain', recording doubt or lack of confidence. The spelling trap lives in the buried French ending -ain, which sounds like a weak '-uhn' but is written with the silent 'a' inherited straight from French. The same Latin root still surfaces in 'certainty', 'ascertain', and even 'concern', all carrying that ancient notion of sifting things out to be sure.

How the word is built

• un- (not)
• cert (from Latin certus: settled, sure)
• -ain (adjective ending via French)