Unpaid

How to spell unpaid

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce unpaid

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does unpaid mean?

1. adjectiveNot yet paid for, or not receiving payment for work done.

Unpaid in a sentence

• The unpaid invoice was sitting in her inbox for weeks.

• Many interns take on unpaid work to gain experience.

Where does unpaid come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a transparent compound built from the native English prefix un-, meaning 'not', joined to 'paid', the past participle of the verb 'pay'. The verb 'pay' itself travelled into English in the 1200s from the Old French payer, which descended from the Latin pacare, meaning 'to pacify' or 'to satisfy'. That sense made commercial sense: settling a debt was literally a way of satisfying or appeasing a creditor. The 'un-' prefix is one of the oldest and most productive in English, inherited directly from Old English, and it simply negates whatever follows. So 'unpaid' has meant 'not satisfied by payment' since the late Middle Ages, and the spelling is regular: there is no doubling and no silent letter to trip over.

How the word is built

• un- (not)
• paid (past form of pay, from Old French payer)