Etymologically
Log in

undertaking

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the English word undertaking

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1382 Wyclif, Psalms More words from the 14th century
Ultimate origins
Middle English under-,takenEnglish -ing
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
English undertake
English undertaking
From the same root
English undertaker ← undertake

Pronunciation

  • /ˈʌndə(ɹ)ˌteɪkɪŋ/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English undertake + -ing,[2][3][4][5] and the adjective comes from the same verb, with the present-participle ending.[2][5] The verb is formed from under- and take, after the older undernim.[2] Etymonline compares the similar formation of French entreprendre (“to undertake”), from entre (“between, among”) and prendre (“to take”).[4] Old English had underfangenes for this meaning, and the 17th century tried undertakement.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The action of lifting up, support: 1382, in Wyclif's Psalms, a sense now dead.[2] Etymonline gives the late 14th century for the act of embarking on an adventure,[4] Dictionary.com dates the word 1325–75,[6] and Merriam-Webster's Unabridged gives the 14th century.[5]

Semantic evolution

The first records follow the wide range of the Middle English verb, which could also mean to hold something up from beneath.[4] Wyclif's Psalms have the matching agent noun undertaker for a protector or helper.[4] Two early senses soon died out: "enterprise, energy" (about 1400 to 1487) and "reproof, rebuke" (about 1430 to 1440).[2] The meaning that lasted, a task or enterprise taken on, is recorded from about 1425, in Wyntoun's chronicle,[2] and Etymonline likewise dates it to the early 15th century.[4] The sense of a pledge or guarantee goes back to probably before 1400, in the alliterative Morte Arthure,[2] and Johnson (1755) glossed the word as "attempt; enterprize; engagement", quoting Raleigh on "great undertaking and adventurous actions".[7] The funeral sense, first found in 1843 in Dickens's Martin Chuzzlewit,[2] depends on undertaker, which came to mean a funeral manager in the 1690s through funeral-undertaker.[4] Collins also records a modern informal use for passing a vehicle on the inner lane.[8] The adjective first meant bold or enterprising, from about 1400 to 1713;[2] Sterne (1761) and Scott (1822) applied it to literary work and publishing,[2] a use Merriam-Webster's Unabridged labels archaic.[5]

Timeline

  • 1382 – the action of lifting up, support (obsolete).[2]
  • before 1400 – a pledge, promise or guarantee, in the Morte Arthure.[2] The adjective, ready to take on a risky enterprise, appears in the same poem.[2]
  • c. 1400 – enterprise, energy (obsolete by 1487).[2]
  • c. 1425 – a work or enterprise taken on.[2] Etymonline dates it to the early 15th century.[4]
  • c. 1430 – reproof, rebuke (obsolete by 1440).[2]
  • 1583 – the action of taking something in hand.[2]
  • 1761 – adjective, engaged in literary work (obsolete).[2]
  • 1786 – adjective, pledged or bound by a promise.[2]
  • 1843 – the business of a funeral undertaker.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A task or project that someone takes on, especially a difficult one; an enterprise: Restoring the old mill was a costly undertaking.[8][5][2]
  2. A formal pledge or promise to do something: She gave a written undertaking to repay the money.[8][5][2]
  3. The act of taking something on or in hand.[5][2]
  4. The business of a funeral undertaker.[8][5][2]
  5. (informal) The practice of overtaking a vehicle on the inner side, when it is travelling in an outer lane.[8]

Adjective

  1. Pledged or bound by a promise.[2]
  2. (archaic) Ready to take on a risky task; enterprising, bold.[5][2]

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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ 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 i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  7. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  8. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
Cite this entry

“Undertaking.” Etymologically, 5 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/undertaking. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·