Unconscious

How to spell unconscious

11 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce unconscious

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does unconscious mean?

1. adjectiveNot awake or aware, especially as a result of injury, illness, or anaesthetic.
2. adjectiveNot realising or being aware of something; done without conscious intention.
3. nounThe part of the mind that holds thoughts and feelings a person is not directly aware of.

Unconscious in a sentence

• adjective

  The patient was still unconscious when the ambulance arrived.

• adjective

  He was completely unconscious of the mistake until his manager pointed it out.

• noun

  The therapist believed the fear was rooted deep in his unconscious.

• adjective

  The boxer fell unconscious after the heavy blow to the head.

• adjective

  Her unconscious habit of tapping the desk annoyed her colleagues.

• noun

  Dreams are often described as a window into the unconscious.

Where does unconscious come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb scire, meaning 'to know', which combined with com- 'with, together' to form conscire, literally 'to know within oneself' or 'to share knowledge'. From that came the adjective conscius, describing someone who is aware, and English borrowed 'conscious' in the late 1500s. The negative form 'unconscious' was built later, in the 1700s, by adding the native English prefix un- meaning 'not'. The spelling trap lives in that buried sci cluster, which sounds like a simple 'sh' but preserves the old scire root, the same root that hides inside 'science', 'conscience', and 'omniscient'. In the late 1800s and early 1900s the word also gained a noun sense, 'the unconscious', as psychologists like Freud used it for the layer of the mind beneath waking awareness.

How the word is built

• un- (not)
• con- (with)
• sci (from scire: to know)
• -ous (full of)