Unethical

How to spell unethical

9 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce unethical

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does unethical mean?

1. adjectiveNot morally correct; failing to meet accepted standards of right conduct, especially in a profession or business.

Unethical in a sentence

• The regulator fined the bank for unethical lending practices.

• Copying a colleague's report without credit is plainly unethical.

Where does unethical come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This word is built on 'ethical', which traces back to the Greek 'ethikos', meaning 'relating to character or morals'. That adjective grew from 'ethos', a noun whose literal sense was 'custom', 'habit', or the settled character of a person or community. Latin borrowed the idea as 'ethicus', and English took 'ethical' into use in the 1600s for conduct judged by moral standards. The negative form 'unethical' was assembled later by adding the native English prefix 'un-', meaning 'not', so the word literally describes behaviour that fails the test of moral character. The same Greek 'ethos' still survives untranslated in English when we talk about the 'ethos' of an organisation, and the buried 'th' spelling is a direct legacy of the Greek theta.

How the word is built

• un- (not)
• ethic (from Greek ethos: custom, character)
• -al (adjective suffix)