Orphaned Negatives in English

One of my favorite movies, 10 Things I Hate About You, has a great quote:

“I know you can be overwhelmed, and you can be underwhelmed, but can you ever just be whelmed?”

“I think you can in Europe!”

When I first learned about orphaned negatives, I was reminded of (made me think of) this quote. Orphaned negatives, which are words that have a negative form (version), but no positive form, reminded me about whelmed, and how this word doesn’t exist (isn’t real) in English (not even in Europe!).

This week on the blog, we’ll be looking at orphaned negatives: what they are, how you can use them, and examples. Don’t be overwhelmed at all, but have fun with it and learn about this interesting part of speech!

What are orphaned negatives?

Orphaned negatives are words that have a negative form, but no positive form. These words have a negative prefix (at the beginning of the word) or suffix (at the end of the word) that turn them into a negative. Additionally (also), the base word doesn’t exist in English, and probably sounds a little funny (strange) on its own.

Let’s take a look at some examples:

Examples and definitions:

Disgruntled (adj): to be unhappy or annoyed

Disgust (n): a feeling of dislike or aversion

Exasperated (adj): a strong feeling of irritation or annoyance

Impulsive (adj): acting suddenly, without planning

Incorrigible (adj): not able to be managed or corrected

Ineffable (adj): not able to be described

Nonchalant (adj): having an attitude of ease, unconcern, or indifference

Nonsensical (adj): not making sense, something not of importance

Off-putting (adj): repellent, disconcerting, something that makes you not like something

Unkempt (adj): not combed, not in order

Unscathed (adj): unharmed, not injured

Unwieldy (adj): not easily managed or used

As you can probably see, words such as wieldy, effable, chalant, and gruntled don’t exist in English. (Part of me thinks it would be great if they did, though!) Many of these orphaned negatives came to English from other languages, which is part of why they have a negative form, but no positive form. It’s one of the many interesting features of language and how loan words (see our many blogs about different loan words) can work and evolve (grow, change) in language.

Can you think of any other orphaned negatives? Do you have anything similar in your native language? Share with us in the comments below!