underground

Etymology

It is formed from English under- + ground.^[2][3][4][5] The adverb came first, as inherited from Middle English undergrounde, also spelled vnder grounde, from the preposition under and the noun ground.^[6] The Shorter Oxford derives the noun and the adjective from the adverb,^[5] while the OED enters the adjective and noun apart from the adverb, each formed with the prefix, and derives only the verb from the adverb.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Beneath the surface of the earth: in Chaucer's Franklin's Tale (about 1395) the rocks were either gone or sonken vnder grounde.^[6] Etymonline and Merriam-Webster Unabridged also date the adverb to the 14th century,^[3][4] but the OED's entry begins only in 1598, with Florio,^[2] Hoad dates it to the 16th century,^[7] and Dictionary.com to 1565–75.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The figurative side is nearly as old as the literal one: a Middle English verse says that love is loken vnder grounde, hidden or abandoned.^[6] The noun followed in the late 16th century, as the region beneath the earth or the underworld; the Shorter Oxford quotes Kyd's from depth of vnder ground.^[5][3] Johnson (1755) enters the word only as a noun, a subterraneous space, and quotes Shakespeare's A spirit rais’d from depth of underground.^[9] The sense "in secrecy, hidden" is recorded for the adverb from 1632 and for the adjective from 1677.^[2][3] In the 19th century the word was attached to railways, and the noun underground for such a railway is a shortening of underground railway.^[3] The phrase go underground and the sense of a clandestine movement belong to the 20th century,^[2][5] and the sense of a subculture opposed to accepted forms and norms grew out of the adjective's use for World War II resistance movements.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1395 – adverb, beneath the surface of the earth.^[6]
• before 1450 – figuratively, of love, hidden or abandoned.^[6]
• 1580s – noun, the space beneath the surface of the ground.^[3] Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates it to 1594.^[4]
• 1601 – adjective, situated below the surface of the ground.^[4] Etymonline says about 1600,^[3] and the OED's first quotations are from 1610 and 1611.^[2]
• 1632 – adverb, in secrecy or concealment.^[2]
• 1677 – adjective, hidden, concealed, secret.^[2]
• 1758 – adjective, growing or living beneath the surface.^[2]
• 1833 – adjective, dwelling beneath the earth or in the underworld.^[2]
• 1834 – underground railway, a railway running beneath the surface.^[3]
• 1842 – Underground Railroad, the network that helped runaways from slavery in the United States.^[4] Etymonline dates it to 1847.^[3]
• 1887 – noun, an underground railway.^[3] The Shorter Oxford dates this sense to the mid-19th century.^[5]
• 1889 – verb, to lay electricity or telephone cables below ground level.^[2]
• 1935 – adverb, into hiding or secret activity, especially in go underground.^[2]
• by 1953 – adjective, of a movement or subculture apart from or opposed to a society's norms.^[3]

Meanings

Adverb

1. Beneath the surface of the earth: The pipes run underground for a mile.^[10][4]
2. Into hiding or secret activity: go underground.^[2][10][4]

Adjective

1. Situated, growing or used below the surface of the ground; subterranean: an underground bunker.^[10][4][5]
2. Hidden or secret; not open or public.^[10][5]
3. Of or belonging to a secret group or movement, especially one aiming to subvert a ruling power.^[4][5]
4. Of or belonging to a subculture offering radical alternatives to accepted forms and norms.^[5][3]

Noun

1. The space or region beneath the surface of the ground.^[10][4][5]
2. Ground or soil lying under the surface or under something else; subsoil.^[4][5]
3. A city railway running beneath the streets; often capitalized, as in the London Underground.^[4][5]
4. A secret movement organized to resist a government or occupying forces.^[10][4][5]
5. A subculture that seeks radical alternatives to the accepted way of life.^[5]

Verb

1. To place below ground, especially electricity or telephone cables.^[2][4]

Word family

• Underground Railroad

Related words

• under
• ground

Usage notes

The stress moves with the part of speech: Collins marks the adverb with the stress on the last syllable, the adjective and noun with it on the first.^[10] In the dialect of the Isle of Wight, Wright records a separate adjective underground meaning undergrown, short and dumpy.^[11] Among the dialect compounds he also lists underground-captain, the official who oversees the miners at work.^[11]

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 n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
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. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
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. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)