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You are here: Home / Language / Where does the word “unkempt” originate and What does unkempt mean?

Where does the word “unkempt” originate and What does unkempt mean?

April 22, 2020 by Karen Hill

The verb of which kempt is the past participle is kemb, “to comb,” and it derives from the Anglo-Saxon cembam and ultimately from the Old Teutonic kembjan.

The only modern survivor of the verb is this form as it appears in the combinations unkempt and well-kempt, but the meanings most often implied in modern usage are, respectively, “ill-groomed, slovenly” and “well-groomed, neat,” rather than the literal meanings of “uncombed” and “neatly combed.”

In all other uses, kemb has been replaced by its descendant, comb.

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Filed Under: Language

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

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