From Middle English *unknowen, *uniknowen, uniknowe, from Old English unġecnāwen, equivalent to .

• (British) IPA: /ʌnˈnəʊn/
• (America) enPR: ŭn-nōnʹ, IPA: /ʌnˈnoʊn/

unknown

1. (sometimes postpositive) Not known; unidentified; not well known.

   Synonyms: anonymous, unfamiliar, uncharted, undiscovered, unexplored, unidentified, unnamed, unrecognized, unrevealed, unascertained, obscure, unsung

   Antonyms: well-known, famous, known

   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC ↗, page 58 ↗:

     The Celebrity, by arts unknown, induced Mrs. Judge Short and two other ladies to call at Mohair on a certain afternoon when Mr. Cooke was trying a trotter on the track. The three returned wondering and charmed with Mrs. Cooke; they were sure she had had no hand in the furnishing of that atrocious house.

• French: inconnu
• German: unbekannt
• Italian: ignoto, sconosciuto
• Portuguese: desconhecido
• Russian: неизве́стный
• Spanish: ignoto, desconocido

unknown (plural unknowns)

1. (algebra) A variable (usually x, y or z) whose value is to be found.
2. Any thing, place, or situation about which nothing is known; an unknown fact or piece of information.
3. A person of no identity; a nonentity
   • 1965, Bob Dylan, Like a Rolling Stone:

     How does it feel
     To be on your own
     With no direction home
     Like a complete unknown
     Like a rolling stone?

• French: inconnue
• German: Unbekannte
• Portuguese: incógnita
• Spanish: incógnita

• French: inconnu
• Portuguese: desconhecido
• Spanish: desconocido

• German: Unbekannter
• Italian: carneade
• Portuguese: desconhecido

1. Past participle of unknow