Unhygienic

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Marked by unsatisfactory sanitation which increases the risk of infectious diseases
2. Characterized by dirty or unsanitary conditions that may promote the spread of germs or infection
3. Describes environments or practices that fail to meet basic standards of cleanliness necessary for health

Etymology: "Unhygienic" is a plain combination of the prefix "un-", meaning "not", and "hygienic", so the prefix carries a long ancestry of its own. That prefix descends from a root shared with the Latin "non" and goes back through Germanic speech into Old English, where "un-" was productive for forming negative adjectives. English speakers could attach it to almost any adjective, which is why it appears so freely in modern vocabulary. The more interesting story belongs to "hygienic". It comes from the Greek "hygieinos", meaning "healthful", derived from "hygieia", the name of the goddess of health, daughter of Asclepius. French and then English took the word up in the 19th century, when the germ theory of disease made cleanliness a matter of public concern. "Unhygienic" therefore describes conditions measured against that newer standard: dirt is no longer merely unpleasant but a route for infection.

Synonyms: dirty, unclean

Antonyms: hygienic, clean