Undue

How to spell undue

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce undue

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does undue mean?

1. adjectiveMore than is reasonable, proper, or necessary; excessive or unwarranted.

Undue in a sentence

• The contract protects tenants from undue rent increases.

• The manager placed undue pressure on her team to finish early.

Where does undue come from?

Language of origin: French

Undue was built in Middle English from the native prefix un-, meaning 'not', attached to the adjective 'due'. 'Due' itself came into English from Old French deu, the past participle of devoir 'to owe', which traces back to the Latin debere 'to owe' (also the source of 'debt' and 'debit'). So 'due' first meant 'owed' or 'owing', and then 'proper' or 'fitting'; undue therefore literally meant 'not owed' and then 'not proper, not warranted'. From the late 1300s it settled into its modern sense of something excessive or beyond what is appropriate, as in undue pressure or undue delay. The spelling trap is the silent, near-invisible '-ue' ending shared with 'due', and the fact that it sounds exactly like the verb 'undo', with which it must never be confused.

How the word is built

• un- (not)
• due (owed, proper, fitting)