Uneven

How to spell uneven

6 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce uneven

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does uneven mean?

1. adjectiveNot level, smooth, or regular; or not equal and balanced.

Uneven in a sentence

• The old floorboards were so uneven that the table wobbled.

• The contest felt uneven once their best player was injured.

Where does uneven come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a native English word built from the prefix un-, meaning 'not', attached to 'even', which comes from the Old English efen, meaning 'level', 'flat', or 'equal'. The word efen had close cousins across the Germanic languages, including the Dutch even and the German eben, all carrying that same idea of evenness or smoothness. The prefix un- is one of the oldest and most productive negating prefixes in English, also Germanic in origin, and it simply reverses the sense of the root. By the medieval period 'uneven' was used both literally, for a surface that was rough or bumpy, and figuratively, for things that were unequal or unbalanced. Because the word is just un- bolted onto the familiar 'even', the spelling holds no real surprises beyond remembering the single n where the prefix meets the root.

How the word is built

• un- (not)
• even (level, flat, equal)