Unkempt

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ˌʌnˈkɛmpt/

Definitions

1. Describing hair, appearance, or surroundings that are messy, disheveled, or poorly maintained due to lack of grooming or care
2. Having an appearance or condition that is untidy, disordered, or lacking in cleanliness due to insufficient attention or upkeep
3. Characterizing something as scruffy, haphazard, or neglected, often indicating a failure to maintain order or tidiness

Etymology: Before it described untidy hair or messy rooms, "unkempt" meant something very literal: uncombed. The word is built from "un-", a negating prefix, and "kempt", an older English adjective meaning combed or neatly groomed. The root goes back to an Old English verb "kemban", to comb, which is related to the same ancestor as the English "comb" itself. The earlier form was "unkembed" or "unkemmed", which shows the word was once a participle, a combed-or-not description applied to hair and fleece. Its closest relatives are in Scandinavian and Germanic languages: Old Norse "úkembdr" meant uncombed, and German "ungekämmt" and Dutch "ongekamd" carry the same literal sense today. The English word then broadened from hair to a person's whole appearance, and from there to anything neglected or disordered.

Synonyms: disheveled, messy, untidy, scruffy, sloppy

Antonyms: neat, tidy, well-groomed, orderly, polished