The convergence in meaning of
peel and
unpeel is highlighted when we consider
unpeeled. As an adjective it means
not peeled:
Take a ripe, unpeeled banana and split lengthways three-quarters the way down with a knife.
But as a verb it means
peeled:
Alves coolly unpeeled the banana and ate it before tossing away the peel and taking a corner kick.
Unpeeled is already accepted in Chi. In fact it's classed as common. Presumably this is as an adjective, because neither
unpeel nor
unpeeling are accepted.
Unpeel is in some dictionaries, including the online Oxford and Merriam-Webster. It is not used anywhere near as frequently as
unpeeled. It's sometimes used in relation to fruit or vegetables, but it seems to be mostly used in a more figurative way:
Wander along its streets and plazas and you will be able to unpeel layers of history, through its Arab and Romanesque buildings but also through the newer attractions of street art.
President Joe Biden also faces concentric crises, which move outward toward the future as you unpeel them: the biological threat of the pandemic, the economic recession, and, beyond that, the entrenched problem of child poverty.
It can also be used of clothing, as in the anonymous Australian poem "The Spider from the Gwydir", dating from around 1915. (The Gwydir is a river.)
Then the sheila raced off squealin’,
And her clothes she was un-peelin’:
To hear her yells would make you feel forlorn.
One hand the bite was pressin’,
While the other was un-dressin’,
And she reached the camp the same as she was born!
In future
unpeel and
unpeeling will be allowed, as rare words.