Undergoes

How to spell undergoes

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce undergoes

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does undergoes mean?

1. verbExperiences or is subjected to a process, change, or treatment.

Undergoes in a sentence

• The patient undergoes surgery tomorrow morning.

• Every new recruit undergoes a week of intensive training.

Where does undergoes come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is the third person singular form of 'undergo', a native English compound that joins the prefix 'under', meaning 'beneath' or 'through', to the verb 'go', whose Old English ancestor 'gan' simply meant 'to move or proceed'. The combined form 'undergan' existed in Old English and originally carried the sense of submitting to or going through something, much as we still 'go through' an ordeal today. Over the centuries the meaning narrowed toward the modern idea of passing through an experience, a process, or a treatment, especially something done to a person rather than chosen by them. Because both parts are everyday native words, the spelling is fully regular: the only point to watch is the final '-oes', which mirrors 'goes' and not the '-os' some writers expect. The verb keeps the same vowel pattern as its parent 'go', so 'undergo' becomes 'undergoes' just as 'go' becomes 'goes'.

How the word is built

• under- (beneath, through)
• goes (third person singular of 'go', from Old English gan)