different between unweeting vs unwitting

English

Etymology

See un- (“not”), and weet, wit.

Adjective

unweeting (comparative more unweeting, superlative most unweeting)

1. Obsolete form of unwitting.
   • 1567, Arthur Golding (translator), Ovid, Metamorphoses, (X, 135):

     Unweeting Cyparissus with a dart did strike this hart.

   • Hereof this gentle knight unweeting was,

Related terms

• unweetingly

English

Etymology

From Middle English unwittinge, unwitand, from Old English unwitende (“unwitting; not knowing; unaware; unconscious”), from Proto-Germanic *unwitandz (“not knowing”), equivalent to un- +? witting. Cognate with West Frisian ûnwittend, Dutch onwetend, German Low German unwetend, German unwissend and unwissentlich, Icelandic óvitandi.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -?t??

Adjective

unwitting (comparative more unwitting, superlative most unwitting)

1. unaware or uninformed; oblivious

   Synonyms: clueless, ignorant; see also Thesaurus:ignorant

   Antonyms: aware, cognizant

2. unintentional
   • (transl.) 4th century BC, Plato, Sophist, 230a

     Some people, apparently, have thought about it and reached the conclusion that every case of being misinformed is unwitting.

   Synonyms: inadvertent, unintended; see also Thesaurus:unintentional

   Antonym: deliberate

Derived terms

• unwittingly
• unwittingness

Related terms

• unweeting
• witting

Translations

References

• “unwitting”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.