英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

undergo (v.)[undergo 词源字典]: Old English undergan "obtain, get; undertake," from under + gan (see go (v.)). Compare similarly formed Middle Dutch ondergaen, Old High German untarkun, German untergehen, Danish undergaa. Sense of "submit to, endure" is attested from c. 1300. Meaning "to pass through" (an alteration, etc.) is attested from 1630s. Related: Undergone; underwent.[undergo etymology, undergo origin, 英语词源]
undergrad (n.): short for undergraduate, 1827.
undergraduate (n.): 1620s, a hybrid formed from under + graduate (n.). British used fem. form undergraduette in 1920s-30s. As an adjective, in the school sense, from 1680s.
underground (adv.): 1570s, "below the surface," from under + ground (n.). As an adjective, attested from c. 1600; figurative sense of "hidden, secret" is attested from 1630s; adjectival meaning "subculture" is from 1953, from adjectival use in reference to World War II resistance movements against German occupation, on analogy of the dominant culture and the Nazis. Noun sense of "underground railway" is from 1887 (shortened from phrase underground railway, itself attested from 1834).
Underground Railroad (n.): "network of U.S. anti-slavery activists helping runaways elude capture," attested from 1847, but said to date from 1831 and to have been coined in jest by bewildered trackers after their slaves vanished without a trace. Originally mostly the term for escape networks in the (then) western states of the U.S.
undergrowth (n.): "shrubs or small trees growing amid larger ones," c. 1600, from under + growth.
underhand (adv.): mid-14c., "by secret means, stealthily, in a surreptitious manner," from under + hand (n.). Perhaps the notion is of the hand turned over (thus concealing what it holds). Compare Middle Dutch onderhanden "by degrees, slowly," Dutch onderhandsch "secret, private." The adjective is attested from 1540s. Old English under hand meant "in subjection, in (one's) control or power."
underhanded (adj.): in reference to a throw, etc., "performed or done with the knuckles turned under," 1807, from under + hand (n.). Compare underhand. As "in secret," from 1825; as "with too few people," from 1834. Related: Underhandedly; underhandedness.
underlay (v.): Old English under lecgan "to support by placing something beneath;" see under + lay (v.). Related: Underlaid; underlaying. Compare similarly formed Old High German Related: untarleccan, German unterlegen.
underlie (v.): Old English under licgan "to be subordinate to, to submit to;" see under + lie (v.2). Meaning "to lie under or beneath" is attested from c. 1600; figurative sense of "to be the basis of" is attested from 1852 (implied in underlying). Similar formation in Old High German untarliggan; German unterliegen.
underline (v.): 1721, "to mark underneath or below with a line," from under + line (v.). Similar formation in Dutch onderlijnen. Related: Underlined; underlining. The noun is attested from 1888.
underling (n.): late Old English, "one who owes allegiance to a sovereign or ruler," from under + diminutive suffix -ling.
underlying (adj.): 1610s, present participle adjective from underlie.
undermine (v.): c. 1300, undermyne, "render unstable by digging at the foundation," from under + mine (v.). The figurative sense "injure by invisible, secret, or dishonorable means" is attested from early 15c. Similar formation in Dutch ondermijnen, Danish underminere, German unterminiren. The Old English verb was underdelfan. Related: Undermined; undermining.
undern (n.): an obsolete Old English and Middle English word for "morning;" in Old English originally "third hour of the day; 9 a.m." (corresponding to tierce). Hence underngeweorc, undernmete "breakfast." Common Germanic: Old Frisian unden, Old Saxon undorn, Middle Dutch onderen, Old High German untarn, Old Norse undorn; of uncertain origin. By extension, "period from 9 a.m. to noon;" but from 13c. shifting to "midday, noon" (as in undern-mete "lunch," 14c.); and by late 15c. to "late afternoon or early evening."
underneath (adv.): Old English underneoðan, from under + neoðan "below" (see beneath).
undernourished (adj.): also under-nourished, 1820, from under + past participle of nourish (v.).
underpants (n.): 1931, from under + pants. Drove out drawers, knickers in this sense.
underpass (n.): 1904, American English, from under + pass (n.).
underpay (v.): 1817, from under + pay (v.). Related: underpaid (1762); underpaying.