uninjured
Meaning
not harmed or damaged; free from injury.
Structure
Usage
fortunately, all passengers escaped from the accident uninjured.
the building remained structurally uninjured after the minor earthquake.
the goalkeeper emerged from the collision uninjured and ready to continue the match.
Etymology
the word "uninjured" is a straightforward english formation built upon the core verb "injure." the verb itself has a long journey, originating from the latin iniūria, meaning "injustice" or "wrong," which is itself a compound of the negative prefix in- ("not") and iūs ("right, law"). entering english via anglo-french, "injure" came to mean "to do wrong to" and specifically "to harm physically." the addition of the common germanic negative prefix un- directly reverses the meaning, creating an adjective that describes the state of not having been harmed. the "-d" suffix marks it as a participial adjective, akin to words like "excited" or "tired," describing a resultant condition.
Analysis
- un: a prefix of germanic origin, meaning "not," used to give a negative force to the word it precedes. - injure: a verb from middle english, from anglo-french injurier, from latin iniūriārī "to do an injustice, wrong," from iniūria "injustice, injury." - d: a suffix representing the past participle form of regular english verbs, often indicating a state or condition.