unprofessional
Meaning
not having or showing the skill or standards of behaviour expected of a professional person
not appropriate to a professional person; contrary to professional etiquette
Structure
Usage
it was considered unprofessional to discuss client details in public.
the report was criticized for its unprofessional number of spelling errors.
he received a warning for his unprofessional behaviour at the conference.
Etymology
The word 'unprofessional' is a Modern English formation, built upon the established adjective 'professional.' The core of 'professional' derives from the Latin verb 'profiteri,' meaning "to declare publicly," which in Medieval Latin came to refer to the vow taken upon entering a religious order and later to any occupation requiring specialized knowledge. The negative prefix 'un-,' with its roots in Old English, is productively attached to adjectives to indicate the absence of the quality described. Thus, 'unprofessional' literally means "not of the standard of a profession," a logical and transparent construction that emerged to describe conduct or work deemed lacking the competence, ethics, or formality associated with a specialized field.
Analysis
- un: a prefix of germanic origin (old english) meaning "not," used to give a negative or opposite force to adjectives and their derivatives. - professional: an adjective of latin origin, from 'professio' (a public declaration, occupation) + the suffix '-al' (of the kind of, pertaining to). the modern spelling is directly from the english word "professional."