undercut

Etymology

It is formed from English under- + cut,^[2][3][4][5] and is recorded first as Middle English undercutten (“to strike down”).^[6][7] The noun is from the prefix and the noun cut, partly also from the verb,^[2][5] and the adjective is from the noun in the OED's view,^[2] from the past participle of the verb in Merriam-Webster's.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

To cut down or strike down: before 1382, in the early version of the Wycliffite Bible, where Hezekiah says of God "he vnderkutte me" (Isaiah 38:12).^[6][2] A 1468 glossary renders Latin succisus as vnder cut.^[6] This sense is obsolete.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

After the Middle English sense died out, the verb was used from 1598, in Florio's dictionary, in its literal sense, to cut away below or beneath.^[2] Craftsmen gave it a narrower sense: from 1791 an undercut carving had material removed from beneath the surface,^[2] and in 1874, in Ruskin, the verb meant to carve so that the upper part stands out larger than the hidden part beneath.^[2][4] Miners undercut a vein of ore or a coal face from 1883,^[2] and in golf (1891) and tennis players undercut the ball to make it rise or spin back.^[2][8] The commercial sense, to win trade by selling at lower prices or working for lower wages, appeared in 1884,^[2][4] and the figurative sense, to make unstable or undermine, in 1955, in W. J. Bate's The Achievement of Samuel Johnson;^[2] Etymonline derives it from the literal carving sense.^[4] The noun followed its own technical path: the underside of a sirloin of beef (1859), a notch cut in a tree trunk to direct its fall (1883, in America), a cut at the base of a tooth cavity to anchor a filling (1892), and backspin in sport (1920).^[2]

Timeline

• before 1382 – to cut down, strike down (obsolete).^[2][6]
• 1598 – to cut away below or beneath.^[2][5]
• 1791 – adjective, cut or carved with material removed from beneath.^[2]
• 1859 – noun, the underside of a sirloin of beef.^[2]
• 1874 – to carve so as to leave the upper part larger than the part beneath.^[2][4]
• 1883 – in mining, to cut away the under part of a vein or coal face; noun, a cut in a tree trunk made before felling.^[2]
• 1884 – to supplant a rival by selling at lower prices or working for lower wages.^[2][4]
• 1891 – in golf, to strike a ball below the centre.^[2]
• 1892 – noun, in dentistry, a cut at the base of a tooth cavity.^[2]
• 1955 – figurative, to undermine.^[2][4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To charge less than a competitor, or to work for lower wages, in order to win business: The new bakery undercut the supermarket on bread.^[8][5][2]
2. To make something weaker or less secure; to undermine: The leaked memo undercut her argument.^[2][4]
3. To cut away the under part of something.^[8][5][2]
4. To cut or carve material from beneath so that a part is left overhanging or standing out in relief.^[5][2]
5. In sport, to hit a ball below its centre so that it rises or takes backspin.^[8][2]
6. (obsolete) To cut down or strike down.^[2][6][3]

Noun

1. A cut made underneath, or a part cut away underneath.^[8][5][2]
2. (chiefly British) The underside of a sirloin of beef; the tenderloin.^[8][5][2]
3. (chiefly US and Canadian) A notch cut in a tree trunk before felling, to control the direction of its fall.^[8][5][2]
4. In dentistry, a cut at the base of a tooth cavity to hold a filling in place.^[5][2]
5. In sport, a stroke that gives the ball backspin.^[8][2]

Adjective

1. Cut away underneath, so as to stand out in relief: undercut mouldings.^[5][2]

Word family

• undercutter

Related words

• cut
• overcut

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins