English

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Etymology

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From Middle English unswete, from Old English unswēte (unsweet; bitter; sour), from Proto-West Germanic *unswōtī, from Proto-Germanic *unswōtuz (unsweet), equivalent to un- +‎ sweet. Cognate with West Frisian ûnswiet (unsweet), Dutch onzoet (unsweet), German Low German unsööt (unsweet), German unsüß (unsweet), Swedish osöt (unsweet), Icelandic ósætur (unsweet).

Adjective

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unsweet (comparative more unsweet, superlative most unsweet)

  1. Not sweet.
    • 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, [], →OCLC, Canto XLVI, page 69:
      That each, who seems a separate whole,
      ⁠Should move his rounds, and fusing all
      ⁠The skirts of self again, should fall
      Remerging in the general Soul,
      Is faith as vague as all unsweet: []
    • 1870–1874, James Thomson, “The City of Dreadful Night”, in The City of Dreadful Night and Other Poems, London: Reeves and Turner, [], published 1880, →OCLC, part XX:
      Again I sank in that repose unsweet,
      Again a clashing noise my slumber rent; []

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Translations

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