Underwent

How to spell underwent

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce underwent

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does underwent mean?

1. verbPast tense of 'undergo': experienced or was subjected to something, especially a process, change, or medical procedure.

Underwent in a sentence

• She underwent surgery on her knee last spring.

• The old factory underwent a complete renovation before reopening.

Where does underwent come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is the past tense of the verb 'undergo', which descends directly from the Old English undergan, built from under, meaning 'beneath' or 'among', and gan, meaning 'to go'. The early sense leaned toward 'to go under' or 'to submit to' something, and over the centuries it settled into the modern meaning of passing through an experience or process, especially one that is endured rather than chosen. The odd-looking 'went' part is the curiosity here: it was never originally the past of 'go' at all, but the past tense of a separate Old English verb wendan, 'to turn or proceed' (the ancestor of today's 'wend', as in 'wend your way'). At some point in the medieval period English speakers borrowed 'went' to serve as the past of 'go', leaving 'go' without a past form of its own. That history is why 'underwent' looks so unlike its present-tense root 'undergo', and it is the main thing that trips writers up.

How the word is built

• under- (beneath, through)
• went (past tense of 'go', from Old English wendan 'to turn, proceed')