un-american
Meaning
Not in accordance with the customs, principles, or traditions of the United States of America.
Opposed or hostile to the interests of the United States of America.
Structure
Usage
The committee was accused of conducting un-american activities.
Some argued that the proposed policy was fundamentally un-american.
He rejected the criticism, calling it an un-american attempt to suppress free speech.
Etymology
The word is a modern English compound, formed by directly applying the native Germanic negative prefix un- to the established adjective American. The prefix un- has a deep Proto-Indo-European root n̥-, meaning "not," which is prolific in creating negatives. American derives from the New Latin Americānus, linking the land to the explorer Amerigo Vespucci. The term un-American emerged in the early 20th century, primarily in political discourse, to conceptually separate certain ideologies, activities, or behaviors from a perceived national ethos, thus leveraging a simple morphological construction to carry significant sociopolitical weight.
Analysis
- un: A prefix of Germanic (Old English) origin, meaning "not" or "the opposite of." It functions as a negative particle. - american: An adjective formed from the proper noun America, with the suffix -an denoting "belonging to" or "relating to." America originates from the Latinized name of the explorer Amerigo Vespucci.