Unprotected

How to spell unprotected

11 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce unprotected

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does unprotected mean?

1. adjectiveNot kept safe from harm, damage, or loss; lacking defence or cover.

Unprotected in a sentence

• The cottage stood unprotected against the winter storms.

• Leaving the laptop unprotected by a password is a real security risk.

Where does unprotected come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word is built on 'protect', which comes from the Latin verb protegere, meaning 'to cover in front' or 'to shield', formed from the prefix pro- ('in front of') and tegere ('to cover'). The same tegere root sits behind familiar words like 'tegument' and even 'detect' and 'integument', all carrying the idea of covering or uncovering. English took up 'protect' in the fifteenth century from the Latin past participle protectus, and the negative form was assembled later with the native English prefix un-, meaning simply 'not'. The final -ed turns the verb into an adjective describing something that has not been given cover or defence. Because it is a tidy stack of un- plus protect plus -ed, the spelling holds no real surprises once you see the parts.

How the word is built

• un- (not)
• protect (from Latin protegere: to cover in front)
• -ed (adjective/past participle suffix)