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

Olta whisky is an intoxicating, 80-proof unicorn. —Allyson Reedy, Denver Post, 24 Sep. 2025

The young girl, while holding up her toy unicorn, asked Sainz to name the toy, choosing between Sparkles or Sprinkles. —Nelson Espinal, MSNBC Newsweek, 23 Sep. 2025

Other alumni of the program, like Guo, have gone on to produce unicorns — startups valued at over $1 billion — from Vitalik Buterin’s Ethereum to Dylan Field’s Figma and Ritesh Agarwal’s Oyo Rooms. —Sawdah Bhaimiya, CNBC, 21 Sep. 2025

Israeli startups accounted for nearly 20% of global cybersecurity unicorns as of last year, and the trend has only accelerated with AI-native approaches to defense. —Kolawole Samuel Adebayo, Forbes.com, 17 Sep. 2025

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