undergo English · revision 39459

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=late Old English, Saxon Leechdoms}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * UK: /ˌʌndəˈɡəʊ/^(Wiktionary)

+ * US: /ˌʌndɚˈɡoʊ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|undergon]], [[inh|ang|undergān|t=to undermine]],^(OED 2026)^(Hoad 1986)^(ODE 2010)^(Bosworth-Toller) from [[m|ang|under-]] and [[m|ang|gān|t=to go]], the ancestors of [[under]] and [[go]].^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) Etymonline glosses the Old English verb as "obtain, get; undertake".^(Etymonline) It is matched by [[dum|ondergaen]], [[goh|untarkān]] (now [[de|untergehen]]), [[da|undergaa]] and [[sv|undergå]].^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ To undermine, work under so as to destroy: late Old English, in the Saxon Leechdoms, a sense obsolete after 1642.^(OED 2026)^(Bosworth-Toller)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==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.^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988) 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).^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline) 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.^(Johnson 1755) The neutral meaning, to pass through an experience or change, Etymonline dates from the 1630s.^(Etymonline) Collins notes that the earlier senses were more closely tied to those of ''under'' and ''go''.^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * late Old English – to undermine (obsolete by 1642).^(OED 2026)^(Bosworth-Toller)

+ * c1175 – to submit to, in the ''Ormulum''.^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c1220 – to go or pass under.^(OED 2026)

+ * c1290 – to investigate.^(OED 2026)

+ * a1325 – to deceive, get the better of.^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * a1400 – to endure or suffer pain or danger;^(OED 2026) c. 1300 according to Etymonline.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1586 – to be subject to, to serve.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1630s – to pass through an experience or change.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To go through or be subjected to a process or experience: ''undergo an operation'', ''undergo a transformation''.^(MWU 2024)^(Collins 2023)

+ # To [[endure]] or [[suffer]] something hard or painful.^(MWU 2024)^(Collins 2023)

+ # (obsolete) To pass under; to [[undertake]].^(MWU 2024)^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[undergoer]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[under]]

+ * [[go]]

+ * [[undertake]]

+ * [[undermine]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}