unbefeuerte

Unbefeuerte is a German adjective that appears only rarely in historical or literary contexts. It is used to describe something that is not equipped with weapons or not provided with firepower, with the exact nuance depending on the author and period. The term is formed with the prefix un- added to befuerte, a past participle form related to the verb befeuern in older or regional usage. In modern standard German, the more common expression for “not armed” is unbewaffnet, so unbefeuerte is generally considered archaic or dialectal and is not widely defined in contemporary dictionaries.

In practice, unbefeuerte may occur in military-historical writing to indicate units, fortifications, or positions that have not been supplied with arms or ammunition, or it may be used more loosely in literary texts to convey a lack of weapons or force. Because its exact sense can vary with the source, translations into English or other languages often favor more general terms such as not armed, unarmed, or not equipped with weapons, depending on the context.

Related terms include bewaffnet (armed) and unbewaffnet (unarmed). Unbefeuerte does not designate a formal concept, organization, or widely recognized designation; rather, it is a niche or historical usage that may appear in specific texts rather than in standard language.