Undesign

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To eliminate design or intended purpose from something; to render an object or concept without a specific plan or design; to strip away the intentional structure or outline from an item or idea
2. To remove the blueprint or the intended framework of an entity; to make something lack the original design or intended arrangement; to create a state where a subject is devoid of its planned organization
3. To disassemble the artistic or functional layout of a creation; to result in an absence of design or structured plan in an object or concept; to cause a thing to exist without previously conceived design or organization

Etymology: "Undesign" is a plain formation: the prefix "un-", meaning "reverse" or "opposite of," attached to "design." The prefix has been used in English since Old English to reverse an action or state, as in "undo" or "unmake," and it is productive enough that writers can add it to almost any verb or noun. "Design," in turn, comes through Old French "designer" from Latin "designare," "to mark out, to designate," so the core of the word is the idea of marking or outlining a plan. Put together, "undesign" reverses that act of planning. Rather than building a structure according to a blueprint, it describes stripping away the intended arrangement, leaving something without the organization it was given. Because the formation is transparent, the meaning can be read directly from its parts, which is typical of many English words built on "un-" in this way.