unfull

Etymology

From Middle English unfulle (“incomplete”),^[1] from un- (prefix meaning ‘not’)^[2] + ful (“filled to capacity, full; complete, whole”)^[3] (from Old English ful, full (“filled, full; complete, entire”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₁- (“to fill”)). The English word is analysable as un- (prefix meaning ‘not’) +‎ full.^[4]

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: ŭn-fo͝ol', IPA^(key): /ʌnˈfʊl/

  • Audio (General American):

    (file)

• (Northern England, Ireland) IPA^(key): /ʊnˈfʊl/
• (Scotland, Northern Ireland) IPA^(key): /ʌnˈfʉl/
• Rhymes: -ʊl
• Hyphenation: un‧full

Adjective

unfull (comparative more unfull, superlative most unfull)

1. Not full or complete; incomplete, imperfect.
   • 1608, [Guillaume de Salluste] Du Bartas, “[Du Bartas His Second VVeeke, […]. Adam. […].] The Handi-crafts. The IIII. Part of the I. Day of the II. Week.”, in Josuah Sylvester, transl., Du Bartas His Deuine Weekes and Workes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Humfrey Lownes [and are to be sold by Arthur Iohnson […]], published 1611, →OCLC, page 290:

     [T]h’vn-full Harmony / Of vn-even Hammers, beating diverſly, / VVakens the tunes that his [Tubal-cain’s] ſvveet numbery ſoule / Yer birth (ſom think) learn’d of the vvarbling Pole.

References