underdog

Etymology

It is formed from English under- + dog.^[2][3][4][5] The OED compares top dog,^[2][5] and the word arose in the United States.^[3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The beaten dog in a fight, and figuratively the side overcome in a contest: 1859, in a piece by David Barker in the Washington Union.^[2][4] Hendrickson traces the word to Barker's popular song "The Under-Dog in the Fight", whose speaker will always side with the dog underneath rather than the one on top.^[7] The OED's 1989 edition dated it to 1887,^[8] the date Etymonline also gives.^[5]

Semantic evolution

From the dog that lost a fight the word passed to any loser in a struggle, and to a person in a state of inferiority or subjection.^[2][3] The Shorter Oxford notes that it is now usually a person, not a dog.^[3] In sport and politics it came to mean the side expected to lose,^[4][9][10] and it is also used of a victim of social injustice or persecution.^[4][11] Etymonline records its opposite, overdog, by 1908, and quotes Robert Frost's poem "Canis Major" (1928): "I'm a poor underdog".^[5] A supporter of the underdog was called an underdogger from 1938.^[8]

Timeline

• 1859 – the beaten dog in a fight; figuratively, the loser in a contest.^[2][4]
• 1908 – the opposite overdog.^[5]
• 1938 – underdogger, one who backs the underdog.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A competitor that is expected to lose a contest or game: The crowd cheered for the underdog in the final.^[10][4][9]
2. A person or group at a disadvantage or in an inferior position.^[10][9][2]
3. A victim of social injustice or persecution.^[4][11]
4. The loser in a fight or struggle; originally the beaten dog in a dogfight.^[4][2]

Related words

• top dog
• dog

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d 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 Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ Hendrickson, Robert (2008), The Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins, 4th ed., New York: Facts on File
8. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
10. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster