Kris Spisak

Trivia: The Origin of “Unfriend”

Sheep wants to unfriend you
I don’t know if this sheep was ever really your friend, but I don’t doubt he’s unfriending you right now.

Did you know “unfriend” isn’t a new word? To “unfriend” someone might make you think of social media, but according to the Oxford English Dictionary, the action of no longer being friends with someone has been called “unfriending” since 1659.

My personal favorite part of this word history is that “unfriend” has been recorded as a noun as far back as 1275. Now, I’m not quite sure if a medieval “unfriend” is the same as a “frenemy” or is someone you’ve simply cut ties with, but either way, aren’t you excited to know that language doesn’t evolve as quickly as we think it does sometimes?


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