Other forms: unblocked, unblocking
To unblock is to clear something that has stopped a pipe. Unblock the sink, unblock the drain, try to unblock it.
Fat, wipes and hair cause most of it, and the boring truth is that a plunger or a hand auger works where poured chemicals often do not. Online, to unblock somebody is to restore their access after blocking them. Note the un- meaning to reverse.
1verbunblockTo clear something that has stopped a pipe.
“The plumber came round to unblock the kitchen sink.”
unblock is a clearing.
Proto-Indo-European
*bʰelǵ- — thick plank, beam, pile, prop
Proto-Germanic
*blukką — beam, log
Proto-West Germanic
*blokk
Old Dutch
*blok — log
Middle Dutch
blok — treetrunk
Old French
bloc — log, block
Middle English
blok — log, stump, solid piece
English
block
English, today
unblock
From un- + block. block comes from Middle English blok (“log, stump, solid piece”), from Old French bloc (“log, block”), from Middle Dutch blok (“treetrunk”), from Old Dutch blok (“log”), from Proto-West Germanic blokk, from Proto-Germanic blukką (“beam, log”), from Proto-Indo-European bʰelǵ- (“thick plank, beam, pile, prop”). Cognate with Old Frisian blok, Old Saxon blok, Old High German bloh, bloc (“block”), Old English bolca (“gangway of a ship, plank”), Old Norse bǫlkr (“divider, partition”). More at balk. See also bloc, bulk.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA