Not properly maintained; disorderly or untidy: an unkempt garden. See Synonyms at sloppy.
Unpolished; rude.
[Middle English unkemd : un-, not; see un-1 + kembed, past participle of kemben, to comb (from Old English cemban; see gembh- in Indo-European roots).]
1579, from un- (1) "not" + kempt "well-combed, neat," from variant pp. of O.E. cemban "to comb," from P.Gmc. *kambijan, from *kamb- "comb" (see comb). Form unkembed iss recorded from 1390. The verb kemb is rare after 1400s, but its negative pp. form endures.