unwounded

Unwounded is an adjective describing a person or thing that has not sustained wounds or physical injuries. It is used to denote the absence of physical damage following an incident, contrasting with wounded or injured.

The term is formed by the negation prefix un- added to the adjective wounded; its linguistic roots trace to Old English and Middle English, with the noun wound deriving from Old English wund and Proto-Germanic origins. The exact first use is uncertain, but unwounded operates as a straightforward compound in modern English.

In contemporary usage, unwounded is relatively uncommon. More standard terms such as uninjured, unharmed, or unscathed are preferred in medical and everyday language. Unwounded appears in historical, literary, or formal reporting contexts and may emphasize the absence of injury despite hardship or peril.

Examples of usage are typically found in reference or descriptive prose rather than routine medical notes. For instance, a report might state that the soldiers were unwounded after the skirmish, or that the crew emerged unwounded following the collision. Overall, unwounded serves as a precise but less common synonym for not being hurt.