Unwelcome
adjectiveNot wanted or not gladly received.
How to spell unwelcome
9 letters · 3 syllables
How to pronounce unwelcome
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does unwelcome mean?
- adjectiveNot wanted or not gladly received.
Unwelcome in a sentence
-
The surprise audit was an unwelcome interruption to a busy week.
-
His rude comments made him unwelcome at the family dinner.
Where does unwelcome come from?
Language of origin: Germanic
This word is built from the prefix un-, meaning 'not', attached to welcome, which descends from the Old English wilcuma, a noun describing a person whose coming is pleasing. That older form joined wil, meaning 'wish' or 'desire', with cuma, meaning 'a comer' or 'guest', so a welcome was literally someone you wished to see arrive. Over time the spelling was reshaped under the influence of the related word 'well', which is why the modern form carries the wel- opening rather than wil-. The negative compound unwelcome appears in English by the medieval period to describe a person or thing whose arrival is not wanted. A useful spelling note: there is a single l in welcome, and the prefix simply adds 'un', so the word never doubles up to 'unwellcome'.
How the word is built
- un- (not)
- welcome (from Old English wilcuma: a pleasing guest)
Fix your spelling for good.
Spelling Garden finds the words you personally get wrong, plants them in a garden, and brings each one back just before you would have forgotten it.
Just five minutes a day is all it takes to fix your spelling.