un
part of speech
fragment / prefix (un-); abbreviation (UN); French and Spanish word (un, «a/one»)
meaning for a pupil
1) As «un-» at the start of a word, it means «not» or «the opposite of»: unhappy (not happy), unkind, unlock (do the opposite of lock). tree →
2) UN (written in capitals) stands for the United Nations, a group of nearly all the countries of the world that works for peace. tree →
3) In French and Spanish, «un» means «a» or «one». tree →
4) (informal, dialect) In some speech «'un» is a clipped «one»: «a good 'un», «the little 'uns». tree →
5) In old dialect speech, «un» can mean «him» or «it». tree →
sense in the lessons
In the Tanakh and Jewish tradition: It is a prefix meaning "not" in the commentary, and it is a stray scanning error in one quote. In the primary lessons: In English lessons pupils learn that un- builds opposites; in maths, «un» is part of words like «unequal» and «unknown» (the number we are looking for). On the news «the UN» is the United Nations. In UK speech «a good 'un» means a good person. Phrases: «the UN», «UN peacekeepers», «a good 'un».
examples
- But Isaac Myer states that there are un- doubted traces of pointing in Hebrew MSS. of the second century. (Sefer Yetzirah, Westcott 1893) tree →
- It therefore follows that, according to the author of the Sefer Yetzirali II, the twenty-two letters are divided into ten double rns: -:c ,rox and twelve simple letters psy cjr "un Ti.-i. (Mordell, The Origin of Letters and Numerals according to Sefer Yetzirah (1914)) tree →
- Add un- to «happy» and you get «unhappy». tree →
- The door was unlocked, so we went in. tree →
- The UN sends peacekeepers to troubled places. tree →
- In French, «un chat» means «a cat». tree →
- Grandad says our dog is a good 'un. tree →
- The little 'uns are playing in the sandpit. tree →
- Find the unknown number in the sum. tree →
note
Not a normal word on its own in English. Do not confuse prefix un- with in-/im-/dis- (incorrect, impossible, dislike): each word takes its own. «Unlock» undoes an action; «unhappy» means «not». UN is said as two letters: «you-en».
In the corpora
- Prefixes meaning «not» include un-, in-, im-, il- and ir-.
- cent ("sahn") means a hundred; a euro cent is called un centime ("sahn-TEEM").
- rouge means red and already ends in e: une pomme rouge, un camion rouge.
- noir is the masculine and noire the feminine; both sound "NWAR": un chien noir, une souris noire.
- Une semaine ("un suh-MEN") is a week; French calendars start the week on lundi.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «un» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.