unicorn

Etymology

From Middle English unicorne, unikorn, from Anglo-Norman unicorne, Old French unicorne, and their source, Latin ūnicornis, from ūnus (“one”) + cornū (“horn”). Other senses from either rarity (e.g., possessing multiple skills) or by physical resemblance to having a horn (e.g., howitzer). The finance sense was coined by American investor Aileen Lee and first used in a 2013 article.

noun

1. A mythical beast resembling a horse or deer with a single, straight, spiraled horn projecting from its forehead.
   Meronym: alicorn
   Holonym: blessing
   The unicorn who may be touched and tamed only by a chaste virgin is a lunar symbol of the ancient religion of Europe. 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 106
2. (historical) In various Bible translations, used to render the Latin unicornis or rhinoceros (representing Hebrew רְאֵם): a reem or wild ox.
3. Any large beetle having a horn-like prominence on the head or prothorax, especially the Hercules beetle, Dynastes tityus.
4. A caterpillar, Schizura unicornis, with a large thorn-like spine on the back near its head.
5. The kamichi, or unicorn bird.
6. (military) A howitzer.
7. Someone or something that is rare and hard to find.
   1. (sexual slang) A single, usually bisexual woman who participates in swinging or polyamory.
   2. (business) A person with multidisciplinary expertise, especially three or more skills in a young field such as UX design or data science (e.g., domain knowledge, statistics, and software engineering).
      But I also think, “They’re looking for a unicorn — a magical designer who can solve all their problems.” It’s too bad unicorns don’t exist. … I have never met a designer who is an expert in all those skill areas. … Even if you find a unicorn designer with all those skills, actually doing all those things at your company is a huge amount of work. 2011-11-01, Braden Kowitz, “Hiring a designer: hunting the unicorn”, in Google Ventures
      He believes that good data scientists, “otherwise known as unicorn data scientists,” have three types of expertise. 2015-10-03, Gil Press, “These Are The Skills You Need To (Eventually) Become A $240,000+ Unicorn Data Scientist”, in Forbes
   3. (finance) A startup company whose valuation has exceeded one billion U.S. dollars, which is solely backed by venture capitalists, and which has yet to have an IPO.
      Coordinate term: decacorn
      As the price of Web hosting plummeted and PCs and cell phones proliferated, college and grad-school dropouts like Mark Zuckerberg or Larry Page and Sergey Brin could suddenly conjure unicorns on their laptops. 2016-10-03, Tad Friend, “Sam Altman’s Manifest Destiny”, in The New Yorker
      In May 2016, out of 163 global unicorns, China had 31, with a total valuation of $154 billion or about 26 percent of global unicorn valuation. 2017, Pongsak Hoontrakul, Economic Transformation and Business Opportunities in Asia, Springer, page 273
8. (attributive) Being many (especially pastel) colours; multicoloured.
   unicorn smoothies
9. (historical) A 15th-century Scottish gold coin worth 18 shillings, bearing the image of a unicorn.

verb

1. (sexual slang) To participate in a sexual threesome as a bisexual addition to an established heterosexual couple.
   Katja*, 27, has unicorned on two separate occasions. Jan 13, 2017, E.J. Dickson, “This is why you haven't had a threesome yet”, in New York Post
   “In Annie’s unicorning, she’s really able to try out other people’s relationships and see how they function from within,” Gillespie tells me. September 16, 2017, Anna Fitzpatrick, “'The Ethical Slut': Inside America's Growing Acceptance of Polyamory”, in Rolling Stone
   “Everyone wants the party, but nobody likes to plan,” explains Vixen Vu, a cam model who has been unicorning since she became sexually active. August 14, 2018, Allison Tierney, How to Be a Great Third in a Threesome
   Also, Dan speaks with a bisexual man, whose first attempt at unicorning (yes, we verbed the word "unicorn,") went poorly, mainly due to his straight couple maybe getting a little too drunky? Sep 10, 2019, “New Savage Lovecast: Dental Dams Spoiler Alert! (Nobody Uses Them.)”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)
2. (finance) To exceed a valuation of one billion U.S. dollars, while solely backed by venture capitalists.
   Since Waze, Soluto and Onavo, both Israeli startups, have had great exits in consumer tech, and Wix “unicorned” through its IPO. November 3, 2014, Itay Hod, “The Airbnb of Home-Cooked Meals”, in Daily Beast
   For eager investors looking to score in a future IPO, the eight still-private martech unicorns might be tempting. That list includes Domo, Slack, Sprinklr, Shopify, and EventBrite, all of which have “unicorned,” or surpassed the billion-dollar valuation mark, in the past year or two. April 30, 2015, John Koetsier, “29 martech unicorns: There are now almost 30 $1B+ marketing technology vendors”, in Venture Beat
   For instance, at the same time as Intercom was announcing its unicorning moment, a young Dublin tech company called Let's Get Checked (letsgetchecked.com) raised €10m in a funding round. April 1, 2018, Adrian Weckler, “Admit it: Irish tech is on the up”, in The Independent

adj

1. Having one horn.