Undergo

How to spell undergo

7 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce undergo

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does undergo mean?

1. verbTo experience or be subjected to something, especially a process, test, or change.

Undergo in a sentence

• The bridge will undergo major repairs over the summer.

• Patients must undergo several tests before the operation is approved.

Where does undergo come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

Undergo descends from the Old English verb undergan, which joined the prefix under, meaning 'beneath' or 'among', to gan, meaning 'to go' or 'to pass'. In its earliest use it carried the literal sense of going under or moving among something, and over time the figurative meaning of passing through an experience or submitting to a process took over completely. By the Middle English period it had settled into the modern idea of enduring, experiencing, or being subjected to something, especially something difficult or transformative. Both halves are sturdy native Germanic words rather than borrowings, which is why the spelling stays so plain: there are no silent letters or doubled consonants to trip over, just 'under' fused directly to 'go'. The same gan root survives in the everyday verb 'go' and in relatives like 'forgo' and 'undertaking'.

How the word is built

• under- (beneath, through)
• go (Old English gan: to go, pass)