Where does “undercover” come from?
Undercover comes from English under combined with cover, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European n̥dʰér meaning beneath.
undercover (English): Performed or happening in secret; Employed or...
Definitions
- Performed or happening in secret; Employed or...
Ancestry of “undercover”, step by step
undercover traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English cover
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | cover | A lid; Area or situation which screens a person... |
| 2 | Middle English | coveren | to recover |
| 3 | Old French | covrir | to cover |
| 4 | Latin | cooperiō | to cover wholly or over, overwhelm, clothe |
| 5 | Latin | cōn- | Used in compounds to indicate a being or bringing together of several objects |
| 6 | Latin | cum | with, along with; at; -fold |
| 7 | Old Latin | com | Alternative form of cum |
| 8 | Proto-Italic | kom | with, along, at |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱóm | beside, near, by, with |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱe | Deictic particle, here; Post-positional... |
| 11 | Middle English | kyt | — |
| 12 | German | kitt | putty certain kinds of cement used for fixing e.g. window panes |
| 13 | Old High German | kuti | — |
| 14 | Proto-West Germanic | kwidu | gum, resin |
| 15 | Proto-Germanic | kweduz | resin |
| 16 | Proto-Indo-European | gʷet- | resin, gum; to say, speak |
| 17 | Proto-Indo-European | gū- | to bend; curve; arch; vault; to bow, bend, arch,... |
via English under
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | under | In or at a lower level than; As a subject of;... |
| 2 | Middle English | under | under |
| 3 | Old English | under | under, beneath |
| 4 | Germanic | *under | — |
| 5 | Proto-Indo-European | *(H)n̥dʰér | under, below |