Standard Lemma guide

unfamiliar

adj · noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˌʌnfəˈmɪli.ə(ɹ)/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: AH2 N F AH0 M IH1 L Y ER0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Strange, not familiar.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

An unfamiliar person; a stranger.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

adjective

Meaning 3

not known or well known

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a name unfamiliar to most
  • be alert at night especially in unfamiliar surroundings

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: familiar

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *né Proto-Indo-European *n̥- Proto-Germanic *un- Proto-West Germanic *un- Old English un- Middle English un- English un- English familiar English unfamiliar From un- + familiar.

Across languages

Translations

31 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: غَيْر مَأْلُوف (ḡayr maʔlūf) — not familiar
  • Armenian: անծանոթ (ancanotʻ) — not familiar
  • Bulgarian: непознат (nepoznat) — not familiar
  • Burmese: စိမ်း (cim:) — not familiar
  • Chinese Mandarin: 陌生 (mòshēng) — not familiar
  • Danish: uvant — not familiar
  • Danish: ukendt — not familiar
  • Finnish: vieras — not familiar
  • French: inconnu — not familiar
  • German: unbekannt — not familiar
  • German: unvertraut — not familiar
  • Greek: άγνωστος (ágnostos) — not familiar
  • Greek: ασυνήθης (asyníthis) — not familiar
  • Irish: aduain — not familiar
  • Irish: coimhthíoch — not familiar
  • Japanese: 知られていない (shirarete inai) — not familiar
  • Kazakh: бейтаныс (beitanys) — not familiar
  • Latin: aliēnus — not familiar
  • Latvian: svešs — not familiar
  • Latvian: svešāds — not familiar
  • Latvian: neparasts — not familiar
  • Norwegian Bokmål: uvant — not familiar
  • Norwegian Bokmål: ukjent — not familiar
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: ukjent — not familiar
  • Old English: uncūþ — not familiar
  • Plautdietsch: framd — not familiar
  • Plautdietsch: onbekaunt — not familiar
  • Polish: nieznany — not familiar
  • Russian: незнако́мый (neznakómyj) — not familiar
  • Spanish: no / poco familiar — not familiar
  • Swedish: obekant — not familiar
Real reading context

unfamiliar in complete knowledge articles