Unwind

How to spell unwind

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce unwind

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does unwind mean?

1. verbTo relax and release tension after a period of stress or effort.
2. verbTo undo something that is wound or coiled, releasing it from its twisted state.

Unwind in a sentence

• After a long shift she likes to unwind with a hot bath and a book.

• She had to unwind the garden hose before connecting it to the tap.

• A quiet weekend in the countryside helps him unwind completely.

• The old clock will slowly unwind once the mainspring runs down.

Where does unwind come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word is built from two native English elements. The base 'wind' comes from Old English 'windan', meaning 'to turn, twist, or coil', a verb shared across the Germanic languages and related to German 'winden'. The prefix 'un-' is the old Germanic reversal prefix, the same one in 'undo' and 'untie', and it signals reversing or releasing an action rather than mere negation. Joined together, 'unwind' literally meant 'to undo a winding', as in releasing thread from a spool or a rope from a coil. The relaxed, figurative sense of letting go of tension is much more recent, emerging in the early twentieth century as people pictured a tightly wound mainspring or a coiled person slowly loosening. Note that this 'wind' (rhyming with 'find') is the twisting verb, quite separate from the 'wind' that means moving air.

How the word is built

• un- (reverse the action)
• wind (to coil or twist)