Unidentified means not recognized or not known. When something is unidentified, no one has figured out what it is or where it came from yet.

You might hear about an unidentified flying object (often called a UFO), which is something spotted in the sky that observers can't immediately explain. Usually these turn out to be airplanes, weather balloons, or satellites, but until someone identifies them, they remain mysteries. Police might search for an unidentified suspect after a crime, meaning they don't yet know the person's name or identity.

When doctors discover an unidentified illness, they're seeing symptoms they don't recognize yet. When archaeologists dig up an unidentified artifact, they've found something whose purpose or origin puzzles them.

Being unidentified is temporary: it just means “not identified yet.” Scientists work to identify new species of insects, detectives work to identify suspects, and astronomers work to identify distant objects in space. The moment someone figures out what something is, it stops being unidentified and becomes identified. That moment of discovery, when the unidentified becomes identified, is often when the real learning begins.