Untitled

How to spell untitled

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce untitled

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does untitled mean?

1. adjectiveHaving no title, name, or heading, as a document, book, or work of art.

Untitled in a sentence

• The new file was saved as untitled until she gave it a proper name.

• The gallery hung an untitled canvas the painter had never named.

Where does untitled come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word is built from the prefix un-, a native English element meaning 'not', joined to 'title', which traces back to the Latin noun titulus. In Latin titulus literally meant an inscription, a heading, or a label placed on something, such as the placard naming a person or a written work. English took 'title' in by way of Old French during the medieval period, where it came to mean both a name given to a book or document and a mark of rank or office. Adding un- and the adjectival ending -ed produced 'untitled', describing something that simply has not been given a name or heading. The spelling trap lives in the seam: a single t closes the prefix and a single t opens 'title', so writers must resist the urge to double the letter, and they must keep it distinct from the look-alike word 'entitled', which begins with the prefix en- and carries a quite different meaning.

How the word is built

• un- (not)
• title (from Latin titulus: heading, label)
• -ed (adjective suffix)