Unfold

How to spell unfold

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce unfold

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does unfold mean?

1. verbTo open or spread out something that was folded or doubled over.
2. verbTo be revealed or to develop gradually over time, as events or a plan.

Unfold in a sentence

• Please unfold the map so we can see the whole route.

• The investigators waited to see how the case would unfold over the coming weeks.

• She watched the petals slowly unfold in the morning sun.

• The manager let the negotiations unfold at their own pace.

Where does unfold come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word is built from the native English verb 'fold', which descends from the Old English fealdan, meaning to bend something over on itself, and the prefix 'un-', an Old English reversal prefix that undoes the action of the verb it joins. So 'unfold' literally means to undo a fold, to open out something that had been doubled over. The word is recorded in Old English as unfealdan and has stayed in continuous use ever since, making it one of the older everyday verbs in the language. From the plain physical sense of opening a folded cloth or paper, English speakers extended it figuratively from the medieval period onwards to mean revealing a hidden thing or letting events develop gradually, the way a story or a plan opens itself out before us. Because both halves are solidly Germanic and spelled phonetically, there is little to trip up the modern writer here.

How the word is built

• un- (reversal prefix)
• fold (root, from Old English fealdan, to bend over)