Etymologically
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undergo

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 22 October 2026 at 21:15. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˌʌndəˈɡəʊ/[1]
  • US: /ˌʌndɚˈɡoʊ/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English undergon, inherited from Old English undergān (“to undermine”),[2][3][4][5] from under- and gān (“to go”), the ancestors of under and go.[2][6][7] Etymonline glosses the Old English verb as "obtain, get; undertake".[7] It is matched by Middle Dutch ondergaen, Old High German untarkān (now German untergehen), Danish undergaa and Swedish undergå.[2][6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

To undermine, work under so as to destroy: late Old English, in the Saxon Leechdoms, a sense obsolete after 1642.[2][5][8]

Semantic evolution

Middle English used the verb in senses close to its parts: to submit to doing something (c1175, in the Ormulum), to go under (c1220), to get the better of (a1325) and to investigate (c1290), all now obsolete.[2][6] The modern sense grew from "submit to": to bear or endure pain or danger, from about 1400 in the Cursor Mundi (c. 1300 according to Etymonline).[2][7] Johnson (1755) gave "to suffer, to endure evil", and marked "to support; to hazard", in Shakespeare's "To undergo with me an enterprise", as no longer in use.[9] The neutral meaning, to pass through an experience or change, Etymonline dates from the 1630s.[7] Collins notes that the earlier senses were more closely tied to those of under and go.[10]

Timeline

  • late Old English – to undermine (obsolete by 1642).[2][5]
  • c1175 – to submit to, in the Ormulum.[2][6]
  • c1220 – to go or pass under.[2]
  • c1290 – to investigate.[2]
  • a1325 – to deceive, get the better of.[2][6]
  • a1400 – to endure or suffer pain or danger;[2] c. 1300 according to Etymonline.[7]
  • 1586 – to be subject to, to serve.[2]
  • 1630s – to pass through an experience or change.[7]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To go through or be subjected to a process or experience: undergo an operation, undergo a transformation.
  2. To endure or suffer something hard or painful.
  3. (obsolete) To pass under; to undertake.

Word family

  • undergoer
  • under
  • go
  • undertake
  • undermine

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
  6. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  10. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins