uni-comb. form

representing Latin ūni- combining form of ūnus one, a single, forming the first element in a number of words with the sense ‘having, composed or consisting of, characterized by, etc., one (thing specified by the second element)’. The Latin prefix ūni- (before a vowel ūn-) was employed before or during the classical period in only a few terms, as ūnicolor, ūnigena, ūnimanus, ūniversus, ūnanimus, ūnoculus adjectives; ūniversitās, ūnanimitās nouns. In the post-classical and later language the prefix had a more extensive use, although the recorded instances are not very numerous; they are chiefly adjectival forms, as ūnicalamus, ūnicaulis, ūnicornis, ūniformis, ūnigenitus, ūnijugus, ūniversālis, ūnivocus, etc., ūnanimis. The earliest appearance of the element in English is naturally in words directly adopted from French or Latin, as unanimity n., unicorn n., uniform adj., unison n. and adj., universal adj., universe n., university n., etc. In more general use it first appears in words adapted from Latin compounds or modelled on these, as univocate (1432–50), univocal (1541), unigenit (a1568); but it was not until the 17th cent. that the prefix obtained much currency, when in addition to normal combinations as unicolorate, unicornous, uniparous, unireme, univalve, etc., such occasional formations as unifoil, unifold, unipresence, unipresent were coined on analogy with other numerical prefixes. In the 18th cent. a comparatively small number of new compounds were adapted or formed, as uniangulate, unicapsular, unigenous, unilocular, unisoil, etc. In the 19th cent. the element came to be freely employed in the formation of scientific and technical terms, especially in Botany and Zoology, frequently after modern Latin formations as unicapsularis, -cellularis, -foliatus, -labiatus, -lobatus, -nervatus, -nervus, -ovulatus, -sexus, or adapted from French terms as unicursal, -cuspidé, -lobé, -nerve. The second element in these compounds is thus naturally of Latin origin, but after the prefix had acquired a more extensive use it was not infrequently combined with English forms or words, and has been used occasionally in place of the Greek equivalent mono- comb. form. (The use with English participial forms in -ed was not fully established until the 19th cent.)In scientific works the prefix is sometimes represented by the Arabic numeral, as 1-bracteate, etc.

The older and more important combinations will be found in this Dict. in their alphabetical place as main words.