Unpaired Words

You may be plussed after reading this

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An Angry Tweedledum by John Tenniel for Through the Looking Glass, 1871 (public domain)

“I’m not unwell, thank you.” — George Carlin, 1981

There’s something reassuring about pairings. Wine and food, cause and effect, light and shadow, are all things that are paired.

Pairing means stability, whether we consider airplane wings or table legs.

Pairing creates ease of use: scissors, chopsticks, crutches, socks. It’s true in nature, design, and fashion. A pair of something makes it functional and rational.

So when we suddenly find ourselves with an unpaired item, it can throw us off.

An unpaired word is one that looks it has a related word, but does not.¹

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Checking in at the Word Orphanage

How do we end up with these unpaired or orphaned words?

Sometimes, one of the words falls out of popular usage and the one we’re left with is the orphan. Other times, it can be created when one word from a pair is borrowed from another language.

But the effect is that there are some words and phrases that exist almost exclusively in the negative.

What are some examples, you ask? Here’s a smattering.