Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “undefeated” come from?

Undefeated derives from English defeat plus the prefix un-, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European ne, a negation particle meaning "not."

undefeated (English): never defeated; always victorious

Definitions

  1. never defeated; always victorious

Ancestry of “undefeated”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishdefeatedSubjugated, beaten, overcome; simple past tense...
2EnglishdefeatTo overcome in battle or contest; To reduce, to...
3Middle Englishdefeten—
4Middle Englishdefetdefect; disfigured
5Frenchdeffet—
6Old Frenchdesfaitundone
7Old Frenchdesfaireto undo; to defeat
8Old Frenchfaireto do
9Latinfaciō—
10Latin-toriumnominative neuter singular of -tōrius; accusative...
11Latin-tōrius—
12Latin-tor-er
13Proto-Italic-tōr—
14Proto-Indo-European-tōrDerives agent nouns from verbs, denoting someone...
15Proto-Indo-European-tor-s—
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -tor-s →