unwit

From un- +‎ wit.

• IPA^(key): (noun) /ˈʌnwɪt/

• Audio (Southern England):

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• IPA^(key): (verb) /ʌnˈwɪt/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪt

unwit (uncountable)

1. (obsolete) Lack of wit or understanding; ignorance.

unwit (third-person singular simple present unwits, present participle unwitting, simple past and past participle unwitted)

1. To deprive of wit.
   • c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii]:

     As if some planet had unwitted them

• “unwit”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

• Wintu

unwit

1. ignorance
   • late 14th century, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canon's Yeoman's Tale, The Canterbury Tales, line 1084-1087:

     [...] Unhappy man! anon I wol me hye
     To tellen thyn unwit and thy folye,
     And eek the falsnesse of that other wrecche,
     As ferforth as that my conning may strecche.

     [...] Unhappy man! right now I will hasten myself
     To tell thy lack of prudence and thy folly,
     And also the falseness of that other wretch,
     Insofar as my skill will stretch.