Unemployed

How to spell unemployed

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce unemployed

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does unemployed mean?

1. adjectiveWithout a paid job; not currently in work.

Unemployed in a sentence

• He has been unemployed since the factory closed last spring.

• The benefit is available to anyone who is unemployed and actively seeking work.

Where does unemployed come from?

Language of origin: French

This word is built on the verb 'employ', which English borrowed in the 1400s from the Old French 'emploier', meaning 'to use, apply, or occupy'. That French verb came from the Latin 'implicare', literally 'to fold in' or 'to enfold', from 'in' (in) and 'plicare' (to fold); the same 'plicare' root gives us 'imply', 'apply', and 'pliable'. The sense of 'folding someone in' to a task gradually narrowed to mean giving a person paid work. The negative prefix 'un-' (meaning 'not') was attached to the participle 'employed' to describe someone without work, a usage that became common from the 1600s onward. The spelling trap sits in the middle: the '-ploy-' echoes the French 'ploier' (to fold), and the single 'm' after 'un-' surprises writers who expect a doubled letter.

How the word is built

• un- (not)
• employ (to engage in work)
• -ed (adjective/past-participle suffix)