unicorn

noun

uni·​corn ˈyü-nə-ˌkȯrn 

plural unicorns

1

a

: a mythical, usually white animal generally depicted with the body and head of a horse with long flowing mane and tail and a single often spiraled horn in the middle of the forehead

b

: an animal mentioned in the Bible that is usually considered an aurochs, a one-horned rhinoceros, or an antelope

2

: something unusual, rare, or unique

There's the elusive unicorn: headphones that do everything well and work in any situation.

—Damon Darlin

In Washington, D.C., truth is now a veritable unicorn.

—Marilyn M. Singleton

… he's like baseball's version of a unicorn—a true two-way player.

—Tony Paul

3

business : a start-up that is valued at one billion dollars or more

… a tech unicorn in Michigan is even more of a rarity, far from Silicon Valley's investor echo chamber.

—Scott Martin

The blockbuster initial public offering is expected to kick off a revitalized market this year, encouraging IPO debuts by other unicorns, the privately held start-ups whose hefty venture capital funds have allowed them to avoid Wall Street and the legal requirements of a public offering.

—Jon Swartz

Illustration of unicorn

Examples of unicorn in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The brand already offers a Hydrating Hydrogel Mask, an After Sun Hydrogel Mask and an Everyday Face Sheet Mask, which comes in three designs — a puppy, a unicorn and a panda. —Kaleigh Werner, Footwear News, 25 Feb. 2026

The Chinese unicorns – DeepSeek, Minimax and Moonshot AI – created over 24,000 fraudulent accounts and trained their models using over 16 million exchanges with Claude, a process known as distillation, Anthropic alleged in a Monday blogpost. —John Liu, CNN Money, 24 Feb. 2026

For us Charlotte unicorns, Cafe Eugene was one of the first elegant fine dining authentic French Restaurants in Charlotte. —Charlotte Observer, 24 Feb. 2026

Profound, an 18-month-old startup betting that the future of marketing will be shaped not by Google links but by AI answers, is now a unicorn. —Lily Mae Lazarus, Fortune, 24 Feb. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Middle English unicorne, from Anglo-French, from Late Latin unicornis, from Latin, having one horn, from uni- + cornu horn — more at horn

First Known Use

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Phrases Containing unicorn

• unicorn plant

Rhymes for unicorn

• peppercorn
• waterborne
• winterbourne
• adorn
• airborne
• blackthorn
• broomcorn
• buckhorn
• buckthorn
• careworn
• firstborn
• foodborne

Kids Definition

unicorn

noun

uni·​corn ˈyü-nə-ˌkȯ(ə)rn 

: an imaginary animal generally represented with the body and head of a horse and a single horn in the middle of the forehead

Etymology

Middle English unicorne "unicorn," from early French unicorne (same meaning), derived from Latin unicornis "having one horn," from uni- "one" and cornu "horn" — related to corn entry 3, universe

Medical Definition

unicorn

adjective

uni·​corn ˈyü-nə-ˌkȯ(ə)rn 

: having a single horn or hornlike process

a unicorn uterus