unfortunate

English

Etymology

From un- +‎ fortunate, doublet of infortunate.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ʌnˈfɔː.t͡ʃə.nɪt/, /ʌnˈfɔː.t͡ʃə.nət/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ʌnˈfɔɹ.t͡ʃə.nɪt/, /ʌnˈfɔɹt͡ʃ.nɪt/
• (General American, weak vowel merger) IPA^(key): /ʌnˈfɔɹ.t͡ʃə.nət/, /ʌnˈfɔɹt͡ʃ.nət/
• Hyphenation: un‧for‧tu‧nate

Adjective

unfortunate (comparative more unfortunate, superlative most unfortunate)

1. Not favored by fortune.

   Synonym: unsuccessful

   Antonym: fortunate

   • 1958 June, John Marshall, “The Forest of Dean Central Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 422:

     Thus ended the life of one of the most unfortunate of small railway concerns.

2. Marked or accompanied by or resulting in misfortune.

   Synonym: unlucky

   Antonyms: fortunate, lucky

   • 1933, Henry Sturmey, H. Walter Staner, The Autocar:

     But as the tower and towee reached the cross-roads again, another car, negligently driven, came round the corner, hit the Morris, and severed the tow rope, sending the unfortunate car back again into the shop window […]

3. Regrettable or unsuitable.

Derived terms

• unfortunately

Translations

not favored by fortune

• Armenian: դժբախտ (hy) (džbaxt), ձախորդ (hy) (jaxord)
• Bulgarian: нещастен (bg) (neštasten)
• Catalan: desafortunat (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 不幸 (zh) (bùxìng)

• Danish: uheldig, ulykkelig
• Dutch: onfortuinlijk (nl)
• Faroese: óskepnuligur, eydnuleysur, vanlukkuligur
• Finnish: onneton (fi), epäonninen (fi)
• French: infortuné (fr)
• Galician: desafortunado
• German: unglücklich (de), unglückselig (de)
• Greek: άμοιρος (el) (ámoiros), άτυχος (el) (átychos), κακότυχος (el) (kakótychos), ατυχέστατος (atychéstatos), αποτυχημένος (el) (apotychiménos)

  Ancient Greek: δυστυχής (dustukhḗs), ἀτυχής (atukhḗs)

• Ido: desfortunoza (io)
• Irish: mí-ámharach, mífhortúnach
• Italian: sfortunato (it), iellato (it), sfigato (it), scalognato (it), malcapitato (it), sventurato (it), disgraziato (it)
• Japanese: 不幸 (ja) (fukō)
• Kazakh: бақытсыз (baqytsyz)
• Korean: 불행(不幸) (ko) (bulhaeng)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: بێبەخت (bêbext)

• Latin: īnfēlīx
• Macedonian: не́среќен (nésreḱen)
• Malayalam: ദൗർഭാഗ്യം (dauṟbhāgyaṁ)
• Norwegian: uheldig (no)
• Occitan: desfortunat (oc), malastrugat
• Polish: fatalny (pl), pechowy (pl)
• Portuguese: desafortunado, azarado (pt), infeliz (pt)
• Russian: несча́стный (ru) (nesčástnyj), несчастли́вый (ru) (nesčastlívyj), неуда́чный (ru) (neudáčnyj), неуда́чливый (ru) (neudáčlivyj), невезучий (ru) (nevezučij)
• Sikkimese: ཇུས་ཉེས (jus nyes)
• Spanish: desafortunado (es), desgraciado (es)
• Swedish: olycklig (sv)
• Turkish:

  Ottoman Turkish: وارون (varun)

• Vietnamese: đáng tiếc

marked or accompanied by or resulting in misfortune

• Armenian: դժբախտ (hy) (džbaxt), ձախորդ (hy) (jaxord)
• Bulgarian: неудачен (bg) (neudačen)
• Catalan: desafortunat (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 不幸 (zh) (bùxìng)

• Danish: uheldig
• Esperanto: malbonŝanca
• Finnish: onneton (fi), epäonninen (fi), onnistumaton (fi)
• French: malencontreux (fr)
• German: unglücklich (de), unglückselig (de)
• Irish: aimseach
• Italian: sfortunato (it)
• Japanese: 不幸 (ja) (fukō)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: نەگبەت (negbet)

• Latin: īnfēlīx
• Macedonian: не́среќен (nésreḱen)
• Malayalam: ദൗർഭാഗ്യം (dauṟbhāgyaṁ)
• Marathi: दुर्दैवी (durdaivī)
• Norwegian: uheldig (no)
• Plautdietsch: schod
• Portuguese: desafortunado, infeliz (pt)
• Russian: неуда́чный (ru) (neudáčnyj)
• Spanish: desafortunado (es)
• Turkish: talihsiz (tr), uğursuz (tr)

  Ottoman Turkish: اوغورسز (uğursuz), بختسز (bahtsız), قوتسز (kutsuz)

See also

• deplorable
• regrettable
• infelicitous
• unsuitable

Noun

unfortunate (plural unfortunates)

1. An unlucky person; one who has fallen into bad circumstances.
   • 1960 February, “Talking of Trains: Moretonhampstead - a p.s.”, in Trains Illustrated, page 73:

     Of those adults who used the trains every day, about half now travel daily by bus, [...] one unfortunate is reported to be walking to and from his employment.

   • 2026 June 24, Lucy Mangan, “Poop Cruise review – a fascinating look at a toilet disaster that still haunts passengers 12 years later”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     Unlike the unfortunates aboard the Triumph, we viewers are in and out of the situation in under an hour and feel like we have had quite a lot of fun in the process.

2. (archaic, euphemistic) A prostitute.

Translations

unlucky person

• Bulgarian: нещастник (bg) m (neštastnik)
• Czech: nešťastník (cs) m
• Irish: ainniseoir m, créatúr m, donán m
• Macedonian: не́среќник (nésreḱnik)
• Turkish:

  Ottoman Turkish: بختسز (bahtsız), قوتسز (kutsuz)